Peter Cropper

[makropulos]

Friends in Sheffield on social media are reporting the death of Peter Cropper, leader of the Lindsay String Quartet. RIP Peter.

[rauschwerk]

Very sad news just confirmed by Petroc Trelawney. I was privileged to hear the Lindsays often in Sheffield in the last five years of their existence, and am glad I took the opportunity to speak to Peter just after their last concert and to thank him for all the wonderful experiences I had had from him and his colleagues.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Sad news, indeed: the Lindsays' cycle coupling the Bartok Quartets with the Late Quartets of Beethoven (Leeds, 1980) was a life-changing series. Many, many thanks, Peter Cropper.

[Pulcinella]

Time to play at least one of the Tippett quartets will be found in Casa Pulcinella today.
RIP Peter from me too.

[DracoM]

RIP from Westmorland Youth Orchestra as well where he delivered highly effective master classes.

[Stanley Stewart]

"A glooming peace this morning with it brings;
The sun for sorrow will not show his head..." R & J, Act V

Sad to hear about the death of Peter Cropper but grateful to him and the Lindsay Qt for many years of deeply satisfying pleasure in recitals and recordings. RIP

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It was interesting that the Lindsay SQ's first residency was at Keele University - where there was no music degree course. It did my PGCE there in '72-73, and there was a healthy music dept (though still no degree). By co-incidence, I was soon teaching near to Sheffield, so the connection remained with me for some time.

It was, of course, the Cropper Quartet, before they renamed themselves after Lord Lindsay.

[Boilk]

Saw the Lindsay Quartet at St. John's Smith Square doing Tippett #1 in the early 80s and (I think) Tippett #4 in Bristol c. 1984. Their Tippett quartet cycle was the first recorded and very good it was too. Saw Cropper again at IMS Master Classes near Penzance a few years ago when he was the visiting chamber music teacher. Like Stephen Isserlis, he had been a visiting student there back in the 70s.

[BBMmk2]

I am not a fan of the string quartet medium as a whole, but there are some artists that supercede ones opinions of a certain genre and this is one of those times.

[Stanfordian]

The death of Peter Cropper came as quite a shock. I have enjoyed his playing in several live recitals mainly after the Lindsay retired. At one Preston recital I attended he once appeared with traces of brick dust on the collar of his dinner jacket and said that he had been plastering his home in the Peak District. Thankfully the Lindsay with Cropper as leader has left a substantial legacy of recordings of which I find a special appeal from its Haydn and Schubert readings. RIP

[Bryn]

Short obituary in the latest Presto Newsletter, just scroll down to below the new releases.

Also, a little reminder of his enthusiasm for the Beethoven Quartets.

[verismissimo]

I first heard him play on several occasions at school when he was in his mid-teens. All the main characteristics of his playing were already present - enormous commitment, always concerned with both line and accent, fine architecturally, occasional wayward intonation.

He brought the Lindsays to Blackheath for us two years in a row in the late 1980s to give their major festivals there (instead of at the Wigmore) - the Romantics, then the Czechs. The large hall was then unrestored, so they played in the small hall with its outstanding acoustics, which Peter loved.

A dear friend over many years.

[richardfinegold]

I first heard him play on several occasions at school when he was in his mid-teens. All the main characteristics of his playing were already present - enormous commitment, always concerned with both line and accent, fine architecturally, occasional wayward intonation.

He brought the Lindsays to Blackheath for us two years in a row in the late 1980s to give their major festivals there (instead of at the Wigmore) - the Romantics, then the Czechs. The large hall was then unrestored, so they played in the small hall with its outstanding acoustics, which Peter loved.

A dear friend over many years.

I had a few Lindsay records, but with repeated playing the intonation issues would drive me batty. You'd hold your breath waiting for it to happen. It was a real
pity because I so enjoyed their music making otherwise. R.I.P.

[rauschwerk]

I confess I'm mystified by comments (not just today's) about Peter Cropper's intonation. Sure, he could have off days on the concert platform, but I have nearly all the Lindsays' Haydn, late Beethoven and Tippett and can't hear any problems.

[pastoralguy]

Very sad news. He was a very respected violinist who will be sorely missed. Did he ever finish his Beethoven violin sonata cycle?