Classical Music - String Theory Cello Ensemble

The 2007 Westgate Chapel Music Series kicks off with an exciting and highly original concert: a Lewes-based cello quartet, playing specially arranged Renaissance choral music. “It’s very rare to have four cellos playing together,” says Catherine Black, the leader of the String Theory Cello Ensemble, “and it’s a very gorgeous, very rich sound.” “The music we are playing is amazing,” she continues. “I’ve arranged the choral music of composers such as Thomas Tallis and William Byrd for four cellos. It’s a very democratic sound - there is no hierarchy of violin over viola over cello as in most string quartets. There are four (originally vocal) lines, which weave along and interplay. It’s very conversational.”

The composers in question, who were all based in the great cathedrals of the era, lived through an extraordinary period of religious upheaval under the Tudors and Stuarts. ‘William Byrd in particular was an interesting case,” says Catherine. “He was a staunch Catholic, who wrote both for the Latin and the Anglican church, He kept being fined enormous amounts of money, but he clearly kept swinging it, because he didn’t end up losing his head.” Paul Gregory of the Westgate Chapel Music Series promises the 2007 season to be ‘as good as the best we’ve had’: it certainly gets kick-started by quite an extraordinary opener. AG