Obituary, Peter Cropper (1945-2015)

We learned on Monday morning of the death of Peter Cropper, founder-member and leader of the world-renowned Lindsay Quartet. Born in Southport in 1945 into a family of professional string-players, his education was musical from the outset with a music scholarship to Uppingham School followed by the Royal Academy of Music, where in 1965 (together with Ronald Birks, Roger Bigley, and Bernard Gregor-Smith) he founded what would go on to become one of the foremost chamber ensembles of the late twentieth century. The Lindsay Quartet was indeed initially named after Cropper himself, with the subsequent name-change reflecting a relationship with Keele University (founded by one Lord Alexander Lindsay).

The Lindsays' impact on the world of chamber music has been, to put it mildly, considerable; they gave countless acclaimed live performances, and from the 80s onward garnered award after award for their recordings (particularly those on the ASV label, with whom they enjoyed a close relationship from 1984). As well as scooping Gramophone and Penguin awards for their Beethoven and Haydn, they worked closely with Sir Michael Tippett (whose Fourth and Fifth Quartets were written for them), and also promoted the works of Janacek and other Central European composers with their 'The Bohemians' series, at a time when few other ensembles were giving this repertoire the attention it deserves.

This alone would be an enviable legacy, but Cropper's energy and enthusiasm for promoting chamber music was as boundless as his passion for playing it; in the 1980s he co-founded the Sheffield-based organisation Music in the Round (originally known as the Sheffield International Chamber Music Series), which has formed a key pillar of the musical life of the area ever since; Cropper strove to present chamber music performances in a casual and informal setting, with accessible introductions to the music (a model much followed in later years by, among others, the pianist James Rhodes). He also did much for musical education in the North, teaching at the Royal Northern College of Music and running an MA programme for string quartets at Sheffield University.

On the quartet's retirement in 2005, Cropper changed course slightly and focused primarily on the piano trio repertoire, chiefly with Moray Welsh and Martin Roscoe (with whom he appeared quite frequently here in Leamington at the Spring Music Festival); he also recorded a highly-regarded set of the Beethoven violin sonatas with Roscoe. His ambassadorship for chamber music continued, seeing him work with the BBC and the Arts Council as well as doing much to promote and inspire the next generation of chamber musicians. His introduction to the Elias Quartet's ongoing Beethoven Project in many ways sums up Cropper's relationship with the music he played: 'I have never had a closer friend in music than Beethoven. I feel him speaking to me. Nobody has ever shared more than he did with these masterpieces.'

Mr. Cropper died on Friday after suffering a heart-attack; he is survived by his violinist wife Nina Martin (whom he first met in the National Youth Orchestra) and his son and daughter - both also musicians.

The Lindsays - some of their landmark recordings