Leamington Music, Ensemble 360, Royal Spa Centre, Sunday 2 March, 2025

“Sniggers and cold silence” greeted the first performance of Benjamin Britten’s precocious work, Three Divertimento for String Quartet, at the Wigmore Hall in 1936.  No such cold reception at the Royal Spa Centre last Sunday, and the long awaited return of Ensemble 360 with Benjamin Nabarro leading the numerous glissandi, staccato and spiccato which littered the first of the three movements.  Jonathon Stone at second violin gave the work a much admired level of intense concentration in the march, Cellist Gemma Rosefield producing bewitching pizzicato playing in the waltz as a prélude to the furiously paced burlesque. This time the work was given a warm reception!

As a black composer, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a contemporary of Ralph Vaughan Williams, was a pioneering iconic figure in Black British history.  Known to colleagues as the African Mahler, his Clarinet Quintet in F Sharp minor, Op. 10 is one of his better known works, full of elements of spirituals and folk music, just as Dvořák did! Movement one – allegro energico – was exactly that. Robert Plane’s plaintive clarinet playing of the larghetto affecttuoso was a delight, reminding his audience of the many folk tunes throughout the wistful work.

Apparently, Joseph Holbrooke made himself very unpopular at the Royal Academy when he decided to play only his own compositions at his final assessment! His Eilean Shona for Clarinet and String Quartet evokes solitude, something he sought in this remote and tranquil island on Scotland’s west coast. He courted controversy with his insistence on delivering modern English music to an unenthusiastic audience, yet some of his compositions are fine music, of which, the work we heard is an excellent example.

Ensemble 360 at their very best brought a very happy Sunday morning and afternoon to an end with an intuitive performance of Antonín Dvořák’s “American”  String Quartet No 12 in F major, Op.6, telling the story of the composer’s stay in the US in 1893 and his strong wish to return to his Czech homeland which he achieves - the last movement exhibiting his happiness at being home. Showing how pleased he was with the way the day had gone, Benjamin added the odd whistle in support of the folk tunes!