The Sacconi Quartet

There is something extraordinary about the Sacconi Quartet. I have heard them in York, Aysgarth, Ilkley, Ripon, Leeds; and now Huddersfield, in the concert of 8^th April, broadcast on Radio 3. The story has always been the same. For the first few minutes, you wonder if they are truly together, because the individual parts do not seem to be integrated, and then they establish this astonishing rapport. Their ensemble work is immaculate. Their mastery of the compositions they play, ranging broadly from Haydn to the 20^th century, is such that they communicate the music as if it they had themselves written it, as if it were part of them. They can generate all the excitement of faster intense pieces; but they also allow the music to breathe. For my money, the best British string quartet around.