by Graham Wood
A Short History of the Oriel String Quartet, from 1961 to 1974.
I formed the quartet in 1961. Fred Ackland, the then Music Supervisor of the ABC in Perth, agreed that it would be a good idea to have string quartet emerging from the ranks of the WASO. This would be a prestigious move for the ABC and an excellent outlet for us players.
The question of a name arose and we finally settled on “Oriel”, the name of a London quartet with which I had been briefly involved whilst overseas. The original membership comprised myself, Susan Davies, George Coleman and Brian Meddemmen.
Within a couple of years membership changed to Graham Wood, Ashley Arbuckle, John Dean and Brian Meddemmen. [Stan Kowarski had replaced Susan Davies for a while.]
Career: The quartet was involved in many ABC broadcasts, [there was money for regular
local broadcasts in those days] and several TV appearances. The Chamber Music Society,
with its indefatigable secretary Norma Paterson, provided many an opportunity to perform, as
did the University of WA in its lunchtime concerts and its Music Society series.
The quartet presented many schools concerts at schools such as MLC, PLC, St. Mary’s,
Guildford Grammar etc. We also made recordings for the ABC of works by contemporary
Australian composers. These included Ann Boyd, John Exton and Alfred Hill.
There were tours in country centres and interstate for Musica Viva.
Associate artists: Local musicians included John Harte, Alan Speer, Stephen Dornan,
Stephanie Coleman, Jack Harrison, Peter Randall, Tony Buddle, John Mowson, Owen
Fisenden, Michael Brimer, Alan Rule, Patrick Brislan, Jill Mowson, Henri Penn and others.
Overseas artists included tenor William Herbert, guitarist Siegfried Behrend, pianist Peter Cooper, etc.
Works by Australian composers:
Trevor Jones, Essay for string quartet. [1963]
Graham Wood, Clarinet quintet, 1966, Sketches for string quartet, 1968.
James Penberthy, Quartet in D minor, 1964.
Peter Sculthorpe, Quartet No.6 1967
Raymond Hansen, quartet, 1968.
Colin Brumby, 3 songs for high voice and quartet, 1971.Works by John Exton, Ann Boyd, Alfred Hill.
Margaret Sutherland, Discussion for string quartet, late 60’s.
From the regular repertoire there were a huge number of works performed.
Haydn: A large number, including part of a Haydn series tour for Musica Viva and the “Seven
Last Words” several times.
Mozart: Many quartets and the string quintets. The divertimento with two horns, the
oboe quartet, the clarinet quartet, the piano quartets etc.
Beethoven: All except Op. 127 and Op. 132.
Schubert: Eb, D87, A minor, D804, D minor, D 810, Quintet, D965.
Mendelssohn: Op. 12 in Eb etc.etc.
Brahms: Op. 51, C minor and A minor, Op 67 in Bb, sextets Op 18 and 36, Op 34 piano
quartet, Op 135 clarinet quintet.
Dohnanyi: Quartet in Db, piano quintet Op 1 with Michael Brimer.
Borodin: 2nd quartet.
Tchaikowsky: D major.
Smetana: Op 116.
Dvorak: OP 51 in Eb, OP 96 in F [American], Op 105 and 106, piano quintet with Henri
Penn, String quintet with bass, with John Mowson.
Faure: Quartet, piano quartet and quintet.
Ravel: Quartet.
Debussy: Quartet.
Sibelius” Quartet.
Kodaly: Quartet no 2.
Shostakovich, Nos. 4, 5, 7, 8 and 10.
Glazounov: “Quartet Slave” and one other.
Also works by Turina, Gurney, Howells, Moeran, Vaughan Williams, Walton, Britten, Bliss,
Bartok, etc. etc.Memorable Performances [Not in any special order of merit].
Schumann: piano quintet with Stephen Dornan, broadcast 1/3/62.
Vaughan Williams: “On Wenlock Edge” with tenor William Herbert and pianist Stephanie
Coleman. Broadcast 4/7/62, repeated 9/11/62 and at the Festival of Perth 2/2/63.
Dohnanyi: Piano quintet with pianist Michael Brimer, 28/12/62.
Trevor Jones: Essay for string quartet. First performance at the Festival of Perth, 13/1/63.
James Penberthy: String quartet in D minor. First performance broadcast 28/2/63.
Howard Ferguson: Octet [First Australian performance], broadcast 27/7/63. Associate artists
John Mowson, Jill Mowson, Jack Harrison, Patrick Brislan.
Bliss: Clarinet quintet, with Jack Harrison, during “British Week”. Studio concert at the ABC
on 17/5/64 and at a University lunchtime concert with Sir Arthur Bliss present on 10/9/64.
Bliss: String quartet #1 in a University Music Society concert with Bliss present on 18/9/64.
Bartok: 6th quartet. Festival of Perth, 11/2/65.
Bloch: Piano quintet with Alan Speer. Festival of Perth, 11/2/65.
Franck: Piano quintet with Stephen Dornan. ABC concert, 21/8/66.
Brahms: Piano quintet with Stephen Dornan. Chamber Music Society, 25/6/67.
Alfred Hill: Serenade, with Owen Fisenden [flute]. Permanent recording for ABC on 3/10/69.
Beethoven: Chamber music series for ABC, recitals and broadcasts. These included –
Op. 18/6 and Op. 95 in an ABC concert on 31/5/70.
Op. 74 and Op. 95, broadcast 6/7/70 and 14/7/70.
Op. 130, broadcast 28/10/70
Op. 131, broadcast 25/11/70.
Op. 59/2, broadcast 9/12/70.
Festival of Perth18/2/71: ABC concert included Colin Brumby “Three Italian Songs”, the
Trevor Jones “Essay” and the quartet by John Exton.
Musica Viva tour, July 1971: Works for guitar and strings with German guitarist Siegfried
Behrend. Venues included Sydney, Armidale, Brisbane, Bathurst, Orange and Canberra.
Festival of Perth, 1972: Four pieces for string quartet by Don Banks.
ABC studio recital 19/5/72: Barber “Dover Beach” and Elgar’s piano quintet.
Associate artists were Greg Yurisich, [baritone] and Lyn Garland [piano].ABC studio recital, 28/5/72: Faure piano quartet with David Bollard.
Festival of Perth 8/2/73: John Exton’s quartet No. 5 and Jennifer Fowler’s “Ravelation”.
Musica Viva tour, August 1974: To Melbourne and Sydney as part of a Haydn series.
With the departure of Ashley Arbuckle and Brian Meddemmen for overseas, we played thelast year or two with Ray Fraser on cello and later Alan Bonds on violin 2. The quartetdisbanded in 1974. I had joined the staff of the Department of Music at UWA in May 1972.
Though the group did continue for two more years into 1974, it was not encouraged by thethen head of department at UWA and reluctantly folded.