Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven, Edward William Elgar, Franz Xaver Gruber, David Matthews, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Robert Schumann
Performer: Rebecca Lea, Jess Dandy, James Robinson, Will Dawes, Kreutzer Quartet
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Toccata
Catalogue: TOCC0554
Release: 2022
Size: 2.1 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Matthews: String Quartet No. 14, Op. 145
01. I. Night. Adagio
02. II. Sunrise. Lento e sostenuto
03. III. Day. Molto vivace con gioia
Matthews: String Quartet No. 15, Op. 159
04. I. Allegro
05. II. Molto adagio
06. III. Giocoso
07. IV. Moderato
Matthews: String Quartet No. 13, Op. 136
08. I. Green. In tranquilla attesa
09. II. Woollahra Magpies. Poco lento – Vivace
10. III. Sun in Me. Con luminosità costante
11. IV. The Song Thrush. Moderato
12. V. Lux Aeterna. Con il movimento pacifico
13. Elgar: Sospiri, Op. 70
14. Mozart: Minuet in D major, K355
15. Mozart: Gigue in G Major, K574
16. Beethoven: Bagatelle in C major, WoO56
17. Gruber: Stille Nacht
Schumann: Dichterliebe, Op. 48
18. No. 1, Im wunderschönen Monat Mai (Arr. D. Matthews for String Quartet)
19. Matthews: Canon for Michael Tippett
20. Matthews: Canon for Michael Berkeley
The American critic Robert Reilly described the music from the first volume 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 No. 13 and No. 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.