To mark the 100th anniversary of the death of the Irish-born composer Charles Wood (1866 – 1926), SOMM Recordings is honoured to release the World Premiere Recordings of his String Quartet No. 2 ‘Highgate’and String Quartet No. 4 ‘Harrogate’ along with his Variations On an Irish Folk Tune. This follows SOMM’s 2024 release of Wood’s sixth and last String Quartet in a performance by the London Chamber Ensemble Quartet [SOMMCD 0692], which received a stunning review in The Observer, BBC Music Magazine, MusicWeb International, Klassik.com and The Strad, and was a Gramophone recommended recording. Featured again on this album, the London Chamber Ensemble was formed in 2019 and is led by violinist Madeleine Mitchell. The ensemble has been praised for its “high quality chamber music-making” (Musical Opinion) and its “passionate and persuasive advocacy [and] gripping interpretations” (Gramophone.)
Charles Wood was born into a family of singers and musicians in Armagh, Ireland. He sang in the cathedral choir, became a student organist, and gained experience as a string player, particularly as a violist. By the time he was sixteen, Wood had begun to write chamber music. When, in 1883, he became one of fifty inaugural class members of the Royal College of Music studying composition under Sir Charles Villiers Stanford and Sir Hubert Parry. Wood in turn taught Ralph Vaughan Williams, Samuel Coleridge Taylor, Herbert Howells, and Michael Tippett. He also gave private instruction to Sir Thomas Beecham. By April 1885, he had completed his String Quartet No. 1.
Two years after acquiring his degrees in 1890, Wood composed a second string quartet, which he nicknamed the ‘Highgate,’ (It seems that he drew the name from visits to see his brother, William, who was the music master at Highgate Grammar School.) While a little reminiscent of Brahms, the string quartet does point to Wood’s emerging individuality. The unusual third movement, for instance, makes use of a seven-bar ground bass coupled with an austere theme for his own instrument, the viola.
