Steve Elcock: Chamber Music, Volume Two: String Quartets
The English composer Steve Elcock (b. 1957) spent years writing music without ever expecting it to be heard: based in rural France, he worked as a translator, composing in his spare time. The emergence of his orchestral and chamber music on Toccata Classics over the past few years has led to his being acclaimed as one of the most important composers at work today. This recording of his four works (to date) for string quartet confirms that judgement: all in single spans, they generate tension and energy in equal measure – animated, in one of them, by a lively sense of humour.
The Tippett Quartet
John Mills and Jeremy Isaac, violins
Lydia Lowndes-Northcott, viola
Božidar Vukotić, cello
Listen To This Recording:
- Largo –
- Allegretto –
- Largo –
- Allegro –
- Largo come prima
- Variation I (Poco Andante)
- Variation II (Allegro)
- Variation III (Allegro molto)
- Variation IV (Largo)
- Variation V (Allegro)
- Variation VI (Andante)
- Variation VII (Vivace)
- Variation VIII (Poco Allegro, Tempo di valse, Più allegro, Presto),
- Largo –
- Solenne –
- Tranquillo –
- Gelidamente –
- Allegro –
- Largo
- Somniloquy –
- Pavor Nocturnus –
- Somniloquy –
- Per noctem plurima volvens –
- Somniloquy –
- Incubus
The Cage of Opprobrium, Op. 22 (2014)
The Girl from Marseille, Op. 17 (2010)
The Aftermath of Longing, Op. 36 (2021)
Night after Night, Op. 27 (2017)
FIRST RECORDINGS
MADE IN THE PRESENCE OF THE COMPOSER
Arcana.fm :
‘Does it all work?
Indeed, it does and not least because Elcock has put his formative years of playing the violin to profitable use with his idiomatic and resourceful writing for strings. For all their technical demands, nothing is left to chance in these quartets […]. Suffice to add the Tippett Quartet, which premiered Night after Night, proves an assured and persuasive exponent while the running order, of 2-1-4-3, makes for a programme well worth experiencing as a continuous sequence.
Is it recommended?
Very much so. Sound is vivid and detailed, […] while the composer’s notes are informative without prejudicing the response of each listener. Hopefully these quartets will be taken up by other suitably equipped and inquiring ensembles.’
—Richard Whitehouse, Arcana.fm