Martin Lovett

This interview combines excerpts from a session with Martin Lovett on February 22, 2014 at the Royal College of Music. Martin remembers his time as a student at the RCM in the 1940s and speaks briefly about his Amadeus Quartet colleagues Norbert Brainin, Siegmund Nissel and Peter Schidlof, all of whom were émigrés from Austria. Daniel Snowman adds some comments at the end.

Biography

Born in 1927, Martin Lovett was surrounded by high quality music from an early age. His father was a cellist in the Halle and London Philharmonic orchestras, and it was under his tutelage that Martin received a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music at the age of 15. Whilst at the RCM he met Suzanne Rozsa, who later became his wife for 55 years. When the Amadeus Quartet was formed in 1947, Martin became the cellist of a group that would stay together for almost 40 years. Despite the differences between Martin and the others in the group, such as age and language, as he recalls 'I was the baby of the group. They used to call me "the Benjamin". I had to learn German quickly', and the fact he was the only one born in the UK, there was a close rapport between all of them. Following the death of Peter Schidloff and the disbandment of the quartet in 1987, Martin has continued to work as a cello teacher, a mentor for up and coming quartets and is highly in demand as a judge for many chamber music competitions.

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