Onslow: String Quartet No. 30 in C minor, Op. 56

The Diotima Quartet’s new diapason d’or award-winning release of chamber music by the English/French composer George Onslow, featuring two world premiere recordings, is their first for Naïve.

The Diotima Quartet’s new release, Onslow, has recently been awarded the diapason d’or and features a programme devoted entirely to the work of the much admired and often overlooked romantic composer, George Onslow. Nicknamed ‘the French Beethoven’ by his contemporaries, George Onslow was a British-French romantic composer who composed more than 60 quartets and quintets. These works are being rediscovered and published thanks to the support of the Bru-Zane Foundation in Venice. Of the three quartets recorded here, Op. 55 is probably the most concertante, but also the most virtuosic for the four instrumentalists, who engage in dialogue throughout. The Diotima Quartet tour extensively throughout the world and are the recipients of countless awards for their recordings including: Coup de Coeur of the Académie Charles Cros and a Diapason d’Or of the Year 2004 in the ‘Discovery’ category (Lachenmann/Nono); Diapason d’Or 2008 (Janácek quartets); Choc du Monde de la Musique (Lucien Durosoir quartets). They make their debut on ECM New Series in March with music by Thomas Larcher, and have a Scottish residency, with concerts in Edinburgh and Aberdeen, between 21-24 February.