The Villiers Quartet, founded in 2011, is known for its interpretations of British music and is the quartet in residence at the Jacqueline du Pré Music Building at St Hilda's College, University of Oxford.
Composer Biography
Ailsa Dixon (1932-2017), the composer, was an ancestor of the Polish-Lithuanian violinist and composer Felix Yaniewicz (1762-1848), whose portrait hung in her childhood home.
Instruments
Charlie Draper, the ondes Martenot performer, is a leading specialist in the instrument and an active advocate for new music for early electronic instruments.
Composition History
Many works on this recording owe their existence to a lifelong musical friendship between Ailsa Dixon and Irene Fischer (Bracher), who commissioned several pieces for her husband's string quartet.
Recording & Production
This recording was made at the National Centre for Early Music in York from February 4-6, 2025, at a resolution of 24-bit/192 kHz.
Critical Reception
Ailsa Dixon's music experienced decades of neglect after a fertile period in the 1980s and 1990s, but has seen a renewal of interest and posthumous premieres since 2017.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Ailsa Dixon believed no music is truly abstract, stating that even pieces without words or a program are a condensation of past experience or psychological processes.
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