They were specially associated with the performance of British music, of which they gave numerous premieres, and were a prominent feature in the wartime calendar of concerts at the National Gallery.
He was appointed leader of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1935, in succession to Billy Reed, and held the post until his retirement in 1953, when he was awarded an MBE.
[5] Records of the Arts and Humanities Council (UK) show that the Stratton performed at the Grotrian Hall in London in June 1928, and (with the pianist Harriet Cohen) in Berlin in February 1929.
In October 1930, at the Conway Hall (Red Lion Square), they took part in a series of 10 free concerts with the Guild of Singers and Players.
[6] In February 1932 they are found at Brighton with Joseph Szigeti,[7] and a month later assisted Benjamin Britten by providing a private run-through of his Quartet in D major.
The Stratton Quartet was very closely associated with the concerts given at the National Gallery in London during the Second World War, organized by Myra Hess and Howard Ferguson.
These performances continued through the war, for example a recital with Myra Hess in January 1941, and with Harriet Cohen and Marie Korchinska (harp) in November 1943.
As a pilot officer in the war, Carl was the observer on a Bristol Blenheim which departed RAF Horsham St Faith on a daylight training exercise in November 1941.
[15] After the war, in 1946, the Aeolian Quartet performed in Austria, northern Italy and Czechoslovakia, appearing at the first International Music Festival in Prague.