Arnold Cooke: Complete String Quartets, Volume Two
The music of the Yorkshire-born Arnold Cooke (1906–2005) – inventively contrapuntal, lyrical and energetic in turns – does not deserve the neglect it suffered even in its composer’s lifetime. This second album of two presenting all five of Cooke’s string quartets underlines his reputation for resourceful craftsmanship, presented in a style which sits downstream from Hindemith, with whom he studied in Berlin, and from Bartók. There is also a surprisingly strong dance element in all three works heard here, though tempered, even in their lighter moments, by something of the emotional reticence of Britten’s quartets.
The Bridge Quartet
Listen To This Recording:
String Quartet No. 4 (1976) (22:10)
- I. Allegro (5:16)
- II. Scherzo. Molto allegro (3:00)
- III. Adagio (8:56)
- IV. Allegro vivace (4:58)
Variations on an Original Theme (1945) (16:23)
- Theme. Allegretto simplice (1:04)
- Var. 1, L’istessto tempo – (0:44)
- Var. 2, Piu agitato – (0:42)
- Var. 3 (0:51)
- Var. 4, Lento e tranquillo (1:18)
- Var. 5, Vivace (0:37)
- Var. 6, Canon. Andante (1:43)
- Var. 7, Scherzo. Allegro molto (0:34)
- Var. 8, Andante con moto (0:58)
- Var. 9, Più lento – (1:36)
- Var. 10, Alla marcia (1:17)
- Var. 11, Adagio ma non troppo (2:20)
- Var. 12, Fuga. Allegro (2:39)
String Quartet No. 2 (1947) (30:30)
- I. Adagio – Allegro moderato (7:43)
- II. Scherzo. Allegro (8:34)
- III. Andante (8:56)
- IV. Molto allegro (5:17)
First Recordings
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