String quartet Brother Tree Sound will play our Lunchtime Concert this Friday. They are Anna de Bruin and Thea Spiers on the violin, Triona Milne playing the viola and Clare O’Connell on the cello. Anna shares the story of how their creativity and talent came together…
Can you tell us how Brother Tree Sound began? “We first came together as a quartet to play a concert with music written by our friends in 2017. A few months later, we were asked to record our first EP, and it sort of snowballed after that. We’ve played together in many different orchestras and ensembles over the years, so we already knew each other, but because we all love chamber music so much, we decided to make it more permanent.”
How did you decide on your name? “Brother Tree Sound reflects our desire to be free to choose projects that are less traditional, like our folk music album. Although, about half of our concerts centre around the more traditional programmes such as the one we are playing for you in Chelmsford Cathedral.”
You’ll be playing music by composers Tailleferre and Mendelssohn, can you tell us a bit about why you have chosen them?
“Germaine Tailleferre was the only woman in Les Six, a group of composers active in Paris during the early part of the 20th century, she was also a pupil and friend of the composer Maurice Ravel. She is an inspiration to us, not just because she was a woman in a very male dominated industry, but also as a ground-breaking composer. We have recently recorded music by these composers which has received high praise from national and international critics.
The F minor Quartet is the last of Mendelssohn’s six quartets, written right at the end of his short, but full and prolific life. Mendelsohn was reeling from the shock of his sister, Fanny Mendelssohn’s unexpected death. He went to Switzerland to try to carry on with his life and forced himself to write music in an effort to come to terms with the loss of his sister. This quartet is so incredibly powerful that we felt we really wanted to add it to our repertoire.
Have you played Chelmsford Cathedral before?
This is our first visit, and we are really looking forward to coming to play. We’ll be bringing our CDs with us, should anybody feel like purchasing one after the concert!
Brother Tree Sound will play at midday on Friday 16th, with tea and coffee served from 11.30am.