I'll tell you this ....... and futhermore.....
cont[inued] on page 94.
But does Grew really write quartets?
(Declare your hand or hedge your bets).
Can Schönberg, Bartók, Shosters too
Compare at all to Mćstro Grew?
And can composers of their kidney
Hold their own with Master Sydney?
Hear "we" of him many a word
Yet his quartets remain
unheard;
Their place in western music hist'ry
Still remains an utter Mistry.
No Fitzwilliams, no Ardittis
Play to us his chamber ditties;
On no Emersons, Smiths, Kronos,
Or Danels is it the onus
To perform these major works;
This is, above all else, what irks
Those int'rested in what he's done.
So let us hope that, one by one,
Ensembles will begin to take up
All these pieces - and then wake up
All of us who wish to hear
Why "we" should all hold Sydney dear.
Can't you just hear the critics claim
For Grew that he deserves his fame?
"Ludwig's quartet fugues are Grosse,
Syd's, however, aren't - oh, no sir!"
"Syd's late quartets are yet finer
Than old Ludwig's C sharp minor"!
"Shostakovich's fifteen
Are nothing to the Grew we've seen!"
"Maconchy's, Bartók's, Holmboe's, Carter's,
Simpson's are, to his, non-starters!"
"No one since Joe Haydn's day
Has had such wondrous things to say
For string quartet!" Let's celebrate
Syd, who put "British" next to "great".
Joy if such things can be believed!
(but if they can't, I'll be quite peeved),
So, pray come forth and tell us all
About these quartets great and small!
(with due apologies to Hilaire Bolloc)...
Best,
Alistair
