Coull Quartet, Leamington Music String Quartet Series, Pump Room, Friday 24 January, 2025

As the most troubling week of 2025 came to an end, the Coull were back where they belong! Banishing the disturbing, irrational behaviours of the week across the world would, for many, be a desired outcome of a Coull concert. Portents were encouraging with a very full house - probably the result of a most effective marketing campaign – a warm Pump Room and the works of Mozart, Prokofiev and Beethoven familiar to most.

Mozart admired Haydn, moving to Vienna in 1781 to begin his freelance career. By 1782 he had begun work on six quartets dedicated to Haydn.   Mozart’s  “Spring” Quartet, No 14 in G major, though not as popular as the “Hunt” and the “Dissonance” is, nevertheless, a warmly lyrical work with a sunny opening movement – the beginning of a 26 to 33 minute-long quartet with cellist, Nicholas Roberts creating a delay as he forgot his scores!  Coull are well known for adopting a measured approach, on this occasion the pace was extremely measured, using all of those 33 minutes!  As a result this was not the vibrant delivery associated with early Mozart.

Prokofiev’s Quartet No 1 in B minor is a work of a serious nature, befitting Coull’s approach to their playing. Cellist Roberts sparks life into the second movement, a mischievous-sounding scherzo, developing into a brusque finish, the movement believed to have been composed whilst observing a starry night. Coull’s approach to the soothing andante, the third and last movement, is one of considerable emotion which maintains their studious approach.

Beethoven’s String Quartet No 8, the second of the Rasumovsky collection is set in a restless, busy E minor. Coull delivered a beautiful molto adagio; the allegretto was full of lilting rhythms with strong cello and resolute violins leading to a crisp finish.  Wild Slavonic dance-like melodies string together with opening themes reappearing later in the movement. The work moves to a sweeping tarantella end in the final cadence. Warm applause greeted this conclusion; an encore was expected with Coull offering an extract from Haydn’s Opus 20 No 4.