# New String quartet talk...



## Kjetil Heggelund

Hey there! I hope this topic can exist in harmony with the other thread here! My interest here, is to get information on newly composed string-quartet "cycles", meaning a whole bunch by one and same composer. F.ex. Peter Maxwell Davies "Naxos-quartets", which I own and love. Let us stick to the popular term "postmodernism"  I hereby declare that postmodernism starts in 1975, so we can bring attention to music that is no more than ca. 40 years. Is this a good idea?


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## Art Rock

Sofia Gubaidulina's quartet of string quartets falls for 75% in your time frame (1971, 1987, 1987, 1993), and is well worth exploring.


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## Selby

This is a timely thread for me.

*Georg Friedrich Haas *
String Quartet No.1 (1997)
String Quartet No.2 (1998)
String Quartet No.3 "In iij. Noct" (2003)
String Quartet No.4 with live electronics (2003)
String Quartet No.5 (2007)
String Quartet No.6 (2010)
String Quartet No.7 with electronics (2011)
String Quartet No.8 (2014)
String Quartet No.9 (2016)

All of the SQs are available on YouTube. 
I have dug and dug and dug and to my knowledge there has only been 1 recording with more than 1 of the SQs - and it is only available for download (Kairos Quartet playing nos.1&2). 
This is a tragedy! 
After Maxwell Davies, actually, above Maxwell Davies, I believe this is the most important SQ cycle of the 21st century, possibly the most important cycle in all of contemporary classical music. But there is no complete recorded survey!

cheers


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## Selby

Thomas Larcher
b. 1963, Austria

1. Cold Farmer for string quartet (1990)





2. IXXU for string quartet (1998-2004)





3. Madhares for string quartet (2006-07) - this is apparently a _fantastic_ piece, I read someone call it the greatest SQ of the 21st century; I haven't heard it yet.

4. Lucid Dreams for string quartet (2015)

_You can sample small portions on his website:_ http://www.thomaslarcher.com/en/category/werke/chamber-music/

1 & 2 recorded on this ECM New release:









3 (Madhares) on this one:









Both of the recordings are affordable. I'm considering it.


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## Kjetil Heggelund

Alright Selby! I have heard of those composers, but realize I've actually been a little stuck in my own world...Time to hear more new things! Just started on Ferneyhough's quartets (with no. 6) 
ps I also wrote an e-mail with a plea to record a favorite composer, who is Edison Denisov, and his works with guitar. My chosen artist was Franz Halasz, who thought it was a good idea actually


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## Kjetil Heggelund

Art Rock said:


> Sofia Gubaidulina's quartet of string quartets falls for 75% in your time frame (1971, 1987, 1987, 1993), and is well worth exploring.


Thank-you Art Rock. Listening now. I've always liked Gubaidulina, but not heard these pieces. She is a grand old lady


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## Judith

I have just started branching into String Quartet and bought

Schubert 
Quartet in D Minor (Death and the Maiden)
Quartet in A Minor (Rosamunde)

Endellion String Quartet 

Hoping to see them before the end of summer!


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## Kjetil Heggelund

I have liked Hosokawa's music, whenever I've heard it. Here's an album with NEW string quartets!


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## Selby

*"Noravank"*
_String quartets nos. 3-6_ (2013)
Petros Shoujounian, comp 
Quartuor Molinari




















From the following article:
http://www.thechristianreview.com/composer-petros-shoujounians-prayer-of-everlasting-memory/

"
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, composer Petros Shoujounian wrote four string quartets that draw on medieval Armenian liturgical chants. The Armenian born composer, who lives in Canada, now has released a recording of the quartets on ATMA Classique with Quatuor Molinari, a group in residence at the Conservatory of Music of Montreal.

Called Noravank, the recording is a beautiful homage to the estimated 800,000 to 1.5 million Armenians of all ages who were exterminated by the Ottoman Empire starting in 1905, culminating in 1916. But it is also a rich celebration of Armenian faith, history, and culture.

The quartets are named after the 13th century Armenian monastery that was once a major center of faith and culture and which has served as an inspiration to Shoujounian. To create his quartets, Shoujounian relied on manuscripts of chants that were notated and transcribed by Nikoghos Tahmizian, the Armenian born musicologist whose discoveries brought this liturgical music to light.

Each movement of these quartets also is named after a river in Armenia, which is especially significant since many Armenians were baptized in rivers when the nation embraced Christianity in 301. In the liner notes, Shoujounian states that the names symbolize how "water is essential to life, and rivers are the veins of a country, just as faith nourishes and sustains our existence as creative and forward-looking people."

From the mournful opening to the joyous end, we cannot but help be saddened by the loss of so many souls to barbarity and yet uplifted by the faith of a suffering people. These are not chants of a liturgical choir. Instead, this is music that blends the history, culture, and liturgy of a people as absorbed and heard by one of its faithful sons.

In this case, the son is a composer, an artist, who demonstrates with this work, like Górecki and Pärt, that religion and faith can inspire new art. But that, of course, depends upon the grace of God and the faith and soul of the artist.

With the Molinari Quartet, Shoujounian has found the perfect artistic partners for this recording. While clearly a work to be performed in public, and one that should inspire any audience, Noravank is also a work that can be enjoyed in solitude. The brilliant interplay between the cello, viola, and violins is at times delicate, at other times powerful. In each moment, this is music perfectly interpreted by the Molinari Quartet that is bound to touch the heart and soul of the listener.

Petros Shoujounian (b. 1957) is an Armenian Canadian composer who focuses on orchestral, piano, chamber, and choral music.
Petros Shoujounian (b. 1957) is an Armenian Canadian composer who focuses on orchestral, piano, chamber, and choral music.

Shoujounian provides liner notes that reveal his intention for each movement. He emphasizes in these notes sadness, solitude, prayer, forgiveness, faith, darkness, renewal, humility, praise, hope, and light. And all are there, as he says, in this recording. Ever present is faith.

This is not the first time Shoujounian has drawn inspiration from Armenian liturgical chant. In 2001, he produced 18 religious chants for soprano and small orchestra. That year, he also performed three pieces for the anniversary of the conversion of Armenia to Christianity in 301 by Gregory the Illuminator, the patron saint of Armenia.

With Noravank, Shoujounian has created a new work inspired by tradition that captures the heart and soul of the Armenian people. Solemn, sad, and dark as well as joyous, exalting, and hopeful, Shoujounian's string quartets are prayers of indomitable Christian faith and of everlasting memory.
"


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## Kjetil Heggelund

I believe Shoujounian can be popular with all people who like classical (and other) music. I originally said to stick to the "popular term" postmodernism, as a joke really, since it isn't popular but almost controversial. Anyway, it means that all styles are welcome, being recent compositions. There is so much music that deserves more recognition!


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## SONNET CLV

Though I worship at the shrines of Beethoven's, Schuberts, Bartok's and Shostakovich's String Quartets, and would never wish to be without the two from Debussy and Ravel, I rather enjoy contemporary string quartets that thunk and plunk and slap and scrape their ways through my ears. Quartets like those by Charles Wuorinen, George Crumb, Stefan Wolpe and Earle Brown are profoundly beautiful in their own ways. Fortunate I am to have heard most of the quartets already listed above, but one intriguing series on my shelf has yet to be mentioned, and that is the Complete String Quartets of Danish composer Vagn Holmboe.















The earliest of these twenty-plus quartets was composed in 1949, number 20 in 1985, and at least one as late as 1992 (Holmboe died in 1996). They are pieces of great modern beauty and they canvass a wide range of styles and moods, but they ever remain markedly works by Holmboe. Well worth exploring (as are Holmboe's symphonies!).

A second set that comes to mind is that of the thirteen quartets of Elizabeth Maconchy (1907-94).









The earliest of the works dates to the early 1930's, but all after (and including) number date from 1948 onwards. Quartets 8 and 9 are from the late '60s, 10 through 12 claim the '70s, and the final quartet was composed in 1984. Maconchy herself writes in the liner notes: "It is a long way from my first quartet in 1933 to the Quartetto Corto of 1984, but a fairly consistent line of development runs through them. There has been a radical, though gradual, change in language, as one might expect, and a corresponding move away from tonality -- but no sudden, drastic change of direction or reversal of method. I have always worked thematically and still do."

Well worth exploring.


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## Selby

^ That Kontra Quartet box is a thing of beauty  I convinced my local library to order it when it was released and then I reaped the rewards!


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## Selby

*R. Murray Schafer*
1933, Canada










String Quartet No. 1 (1970)
String Quartet No. 2, "Waves" (1976)
String Quartet No. 3 (1981)
String Quartet No. 4 (1989) 
String Quartet No. 5, "Rosalind" (1989)
String Quartet No. 6, "Parting Wild Horse's Mane" (1993)
String Quartet No. 7 with soprano and percussion (1998)
String Quartet No. 8 with tape (2001)
String Quartet No. 9 (2005)
String Quartet No. 10 (2005)
String Quartet No. 11 (2006)
String Quartet No. 12 (2012)

The whole cycle available on two releases from the esteemed Quatuor Molinari (2003 & 2013).
They are all available for sampling on YouTube.


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## TurnaboutVox

I am familiar with Gubaidulina's, Maconchy's (both very rewarding, in my view) and most of Maxwell Davies' string quartets - I'm still auditioning my way through this cycle.


I should like to advocate also for the quartets of:

Gyorgy Kurtag (spans 1959 to 2006, but apart from the String Quartet, later than 1977) My doyen of contemporary String Quartet writing.

Robert Simpson (spans 1951 to 1991) I have only heard a selection to date (No. 10, 14 and 15), but what I've heard is well crafted and interesting.

Brian Ferneyhough (spans 1961 to 2014) I know and love these works, apart from the recent Silentium which I haven't heard.

Harrison Birtwistle (1991-6 and 2007) - 9 movements and Tree of Strings, both excellent.

Wolfgang Rihm - has written extensively for string quartet. I have heard a few of his numbered works, recorded by the Minguet Quartet on Col Legno, currently not 'in print' though.

Gloria Coates - 12 quartets, spanning 1962 - 2007. Nos 1 - 9 have been recorded by the Kreuzer Quartet on Naxos. Very interesting music indeed!

Tan Dun - 8 Colours for String Quartet (1986). I have also been interested in works by Lisa Lim, Marco Stroppa, Phillippe Manoury, Jonathan Harvey and G.F. Haas, mostly heard live at recitals.


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## Kjetil Heggelund

Wow! How many day and nights do all these string quartets amount to? I'll do my best


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## SONNET CLV

Judith said:


> I have just started branching into String Quartet and bought
> 
> Schubert
> Quartet in D Minor (Death and the Maiden)
> Quartet in A Minor (Rosamunde)
> 
> Endellion String Quartet
> 
> Hoping to see them before the end of summer!


Two great quartets there, for sure.
But, since this thread is geared towards more recent quartets than Schubert's, I'll add this observation for your consideration: George Crumb's astounding "electric" (or amplified) string quartet titled "Black Angels" reflects upon Schubert's "Death And The Maiden", especially in the "Absence" section of the quartet which quotes from the Schubert. The Crumb is a superb work of modernity and deserves a place on the CD shelf next to Schubert's "Death And The Maiden".


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## Pugg

...................................:devil:


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## Art Rock

Ah yes, Mendelssohn, the well-known post-modern composer who wrote his works after 1975.


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## Pugg

Art Rock said:


> Ah yes, Mendelssohn, the well-known post-modern composer who wrote his works after 1975.


 Bright and awake you.
Should have been in another topic.


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## Jay

David Lang - _Almost All The time_

or...


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## tortkis

^ I recently listened to Jasper String Quartet's Unbound. Mostly enjoyable works by young composers, and Lang's almost all the time was most captivating. Beautiful and introspective.
https://jasperstringquartet.bandcamp.com/track/almost-all-the-time-composed-by-david-lang


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## Omicron9

Vainberg complete box set; incredibly recommended.


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## MarkW

George Rochberg's String Quartets, starting with No. 3 (ca. 1973) are worth a listen, even if they're kind of weird.


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## Kjetil Heggelund

Did we already get to the bottom of it all? I have just started listening to György Kurtág mentioned already. 2nd time with no. 1 now.


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## Portamento

Kjetil Heggelund said:


> Did we already get to the bottom of it all? I have just started listening to György Kurtág mentioned already. 2nd time with no. 1 now.


Nope! Rădulescu to the rescue:









The JACK Quartet and Stephen Clarke are perfect advocates for this innovative composer of the French spectral school. I look forward to future installments in this series.


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## Kjetil Heggelund

Nice! Found them here  Couldn't find them on spotify. I'm sure we can keep this topic hot, can't we?!


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## fluteman

From 2016, which, unlike some of the suggestions here, is well after 1975.


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## tortkis

On May 26, Aeon will release the 2nd volume of Pascal Dusapin's string quartets played by Arditti Quartet.

booklet: https://www.outhere-music.com/en/albums/quatuor-vl-hinterland-quatuor-vll-opentime-aecd1753/booklet
Quatuor VI Hinterland, hapax, pour quatuor à cordes et orchestre (2009)
Quatuor VII «OpenTime» (2009)









The first volume, a 2-disc set containing 5 quartets and a string trio, is excellent. The compositions are subtle and exquisite. The Arditti Quartet's playing is sharp and very clear, as always.


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## Kjetil Heggelund

Don't remember Jonathan Harvey being mentioned. I've listened to him off and on for 2 days.


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## Portamento

For contemporrary I like Fred Lerdahl quartets a lot .


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## mmsbls

Great thread. I must have assumed this was a continuation of the other string quartet thread because I just started reading it. Lots of great suggestions. I will add Hans Abrahamsen's quartets (although I haven't heard the 3rd and don't know if it's available anywhere).

String Quartet #1
String Quartet #4


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## Kjetil Heggelund

So I did some digging and found Jörg Widmann on spotify with the Minguet Quartet. I've heard some pieces by this composer and he is one of my "new discoveries". I believe from what I read that he is quite successful, both as composer and clarinettist.


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## Kjetil Heggelund

More digging here, and surfing the net...Krzystof Meyer has at least 13 quartets, 4 from before 1975. I believe he belongs to the more traditional modernist composers. They are recorded on naxos and available on spotify.


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## Kjetil Heggelund

...and still more 
http://jackquartet.com/recordings/
JACK quartet seems exciting for new music people! Listening to their newest album now, a no. 3 by Simon Holt. They also play the 3 quartets by Helmut Lachenmann.


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## Kjetil Heggelund

Today I didn't look for anything new to hear but I wish that new music people would recommend something too


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## Selby

^Have you listened to the string quartets of Georg Friedrich Haas?


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## Kjetil Heggelund

Selby said:


> ^Have you listened to the string quartets of Georg Friedrich Haas?


Absolutely Selby, and thanks to you  I had at least 3 days of intense G F Haas listening. I like to get an overview of what's considered the great works and also up and coming composers. The more the merrier. I've learned a lot on this forum


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## pkoi

String quartets by a Finnish composer *Joonas Kokkonen * (1921-1996) are definetly worth of checking out, though only the last of them, no.3 is composed after 1975 (1976). They have been recorded a few times by finnish and swedish labels (Fuga and BIS) and at least the Bis recordings can be found from the Naxos Music Library. The first two quartets are in a dodecaphonic post-schoenbergian style, while the last one is free in its construction, combining triadic elements with the non-tonal material. Kokkonen's style is very concentrated and motive based thus making it quite easy to follow, since the materials used in the compositions are so narrowed down. This is even more evident in his symphonic works, check out his first symphony for example.

I didn't see Elliot Carter's string quartets mentioned here either. Maybe it's because most of his string quartets are composed before 1975 (no. 1 in 1958, no.2 1966 & no.3 1971). However, the last of his quartets fall into this categorization, namely no's 4 (1986) and 5 (1995). Excellent music!

String quartet no.4:





String quartet no.5


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