David Matthews: Complete String Quartets, Volume Five

Discovery Club Members Save 30%!
Login or Join Today
£8.00£17.50

Catalogue No: TOCC0554
EAN/UPC: 5060113445544
Release Date: 2022-09-02
Composer: David Matthews
Artists: James Robinson, Jess Dandy, Kreutzer Quartet, Rebecca Lea, Will Dawes

The American critic Robert Reilly described the music on Volume One of this cycle of the complete string quartets of David Matthews (b. 1943) as ‘some of the most concentrated, penetrating writing for this medium in the past 30 years or more. It is musical thinking of the highest order and quartet writing in the great tradition of Beethoven, Bartók, Britten, and Tippett’. Matthews’ three most recent quartets call in a wide range of references. Birdsong – heard in Nos. 13 and 14 – is a standard Matthews topos; and the fugal No. 15 seems to find a middle ground between late Beethoven and folk-music. No. 13 presents the biggest surprise: it introduces four solo voices, siting the work somewhere between Berg’s Lyric Suite and Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music. Some touching arrangements and two canons for two Michaels – Tippett and Berkeley – complete the programme.

Rebecca Lea, soprano 8
Jess Dandy, contralto 8
James Robinson, tenor 8
Will Dawes, baritone 8
Kreutzer Quartet
Peter Sheppard Skærved and Mihailo Trandafilovski, violins
Clifton Harrison, viola
Neil Heyde, cello

Listen To This Recording:

    String Quartet No. 14, Op. 145 (2016–17)

    Audio Player
  1. I Night: Adagio –
  2. Audio Player
  3. II Sunrise: Lento e sostenuto –
  4. Audio Player
  5. III Day: Molto vivace con gioia
  6. String Quartet No. 15, Op. 159 (2021)

    Audio Player
  7. I Allegro
  8. Audio Player
  9. II Molto adagio
  10. Audio Player
  11. III Giocoso
  12. Audio Player
  13. IV Moderato
  14. String Quartet No. 13, Op. 136 (2014–15)

    Audio Player
  15. I Green: In tranquilla attesa
  16. Audio Player
  17. II Woollahra Magpies: Poco lento – Vivace
  18. Audio Player
  19. III Sun in me: Con luminosità costante
  20. Audio Player
  21. IV The Song Thrush: Moderato
  22. Audio Player
  23. V Lux Aeterna: Con il movimento pacifico
  24. MOZART arr. MATTHEWS

    Audio Player
  25. Sospiri
  26. Elgar arr. MATTHEWS

    Audio Player
  27. Minuet, K355/576b
  28. Audio Player
  29. Gigue, K574
  30. Beethoven arr. MATTHEWS

    Audio Player
  31. Bagatelle, WoO56
  32. FRANZ XAVER GRUBER arr. MATTHEWS

    Audio Player
  33. Stille Nacht
  34. SCHUMANN arr. MATTHEWS

    Audio Player
  35. Im wunderschönen Monat Mai
  36. David Matthews

    Audio Player
  37. Canon for Michael Tippett
  38. Audio Player
  39. Canon for Michael Berkeley

FIRST RECORDINGS

1 review for David Matthews: Complete String Quartets, Volume Five

  1. :

    ‘One cannot find fault with the four singers or with the Kreutzer Quartet who clearly understand the composer’s requirements and communicate them lucidly and intelligently. […]

    There is little or no difference in the acoustic and atmosphere of the recordings made at varying venues. The sound is consistent and always transparent.’

    —Gary Higginson, MusicWeb International

Add a review

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars