David Matthews: Complete String Quartets, Volume Six
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’. The three works in this sixth volume of Matthews’ string quartets cover a quarter of a century but share the same basic features, not least a mastery of counterpoint, an impassioned lyricism, a sublimated hint of folksong and occasionally a sly sense of humour, all deployed to touch something essential in the listener. Matthews begins his booklet note with this release by saluting ‘my now nearly 30-year relationship with the Kreutzer Quartet, which has been as invaluable to me as Shostakovich’s with the Beethoven Quartet, or Beethoven’s with the Schuppanzigh Quartet’.
Kreutzer Quartet
Listen To This Recording:
String Quartet No. 8, Op. 75 (1997-98) (20:19)
- I. Leggiero con moto (7:15)
- II. Vivo (4:35)
- III. Adagio sostenuto (8:29)
String Quartet No. 16, Op. 161 (2021) (12:31)
- Andante con moto – (3:40)
- Molto vivace – (2:49)
- Lento con molto espressione (6:02)
String Quartet No. 17, Op. 164 (2022-23) (21:14)
- I. Flamboyant (5:05)
- II. Vivace (3:41)
- III. Adagio (8:15)
- IV. Andante con moto – Allegro con brio (4:13)
Bach arr. Matthews
The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book One, No. 24: Prelude and Fugue in B minor, BWV869 (c. 1722, arr. 2002)
- Praeludium (6:23)
- Fuga (6:12)
Patrick Waller :
Classic Toccata Classics. One of the greatest living writers of string quartets, excellent performances and sound. Bravo to all concerned. A must hear.
Gramophone :
‘Gramophone’s Editore’s Choice, October 2024
A further instalment in Toccata’s series celebrating the string quartets and the imaginative musical voice of British composer David Matthews, with superb performances.’
—Gramophone
Gramophone :
‘Matthews has a remarkable consistency of utterance which still makes every new quartet an engrossing journey of discovery in exploring unexpected corners of his imagination. These performances by the committed Kreutzer players led by Peter Sheppard Skærved are guided by the composer himself in fantastically vivid sound and they respond empathetically and enthusiastically to every gesture of this multifaceted music.’
—Geraint Lewis, Gramophone