Quartet in Residence

WE sit at a low table, waiting for food to arrive. The RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet has just given a lunchtime concert in University College Cork. When the soup comes, we unconsciously divide into two subgroups. Curiously, maybe even significantly, the group whose members eat the most food also do the most talking. I am to the fore among them, joined by the Vanbrugh's leader, Gregory Ellis, and cellist, Christopher Marwood. Both eating and speaking less are violinist Elizabeth Charleson and viola player Simon Aspell. They seem content to allow their colleagues do most of the talking, though intervening from time to time with telling remarks. It is a little difficult for me to imagine the intensity which characterises a string quartet in rehearsal; here the atmosphere is genuinely relaxed and convivial, laughter comes easily and frequently. On the train back to Dublin I decide that this has to do with dedication: to each other and to what they do. No wonder, then, that they are so good and so successful.