David Matthews: Complete String Quartets, Vol. 6 Kreutzer Quartet

• David Matthews (b. 1943): String Quartet No. 8, Op. 75:
• 1 Matthews: String Quartet No. 8, Op. 75: I. Leggiero con moto 07:14
• 2 Matthews: String Quartet No. 8, Op. 75: II. Vivo 04:35
• 3 Matthews: String Quartet No. 8, Op. 75: III. Adagio sostenuto 08:28
• String Quartet No. 16, Op. 161:
• 4 Matthews: String Quartet No. 16, Op. 161: Andante con moto – 03:39
• 5 Matthews: String Quartet No. 16, Op. 161: Molto vivace – 02:49
• 6 Matthews: String Quartet No. 16, Op. 161: Lento con molto espressione 06:01
• String Quartet No. 17, Op. 164:
• 7 Matthews: String Quartet No. 17, Op. 164: I. Flamboyant 05:04
• 8 Matthews: String Quartet No. 17, Op. 164: II. Vivace 03:41
• 9 Matthews: String Quartet No. 17, Op. 164: III. Adagio 08:14
• 10 Matthews: String Quartet No. 17, Op. 164: IV. Andante con moto – Allegro con brio 04:13
• Prelude and Fugue in B Minor, BWV 869:
• 11 Matthews: Prelude and Fugue in B Minor, BWV 869: I. Praeludium (Arr. for String Quartet by David Matthews) 06:23
• 12 Matthews: Prelude and Fugue in B Minor, BWV 869: II. Fuga (Arr. for String Quartet by David Matthews) 06:12
• Total Runtime 01:06:33

Info for David Matthews: Complete String Quartets, Vol. 6

This sixth volume of my complete string quartets and quartet arrangements continues 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 (though – unlike Beethoven and the Schuppanzighs – I have never had the slightest reason to criticise the Kreutzers’ playing!). My Eighth Quartet was composed in 1997–98 as a fortieth-birthday present for my Czech composer friend Pavel Novák. The Quartet is dedicated to him, but when I obtained a commission from the Mandelring Quartet, I decided that the last movement should be a tribute to another composer friend, Berthold Goldschmidt, who had died in 1996 and whose own four string quartets were played and recorded by the Mandelring Quartet.

The first movement is a lyrical sonata movement, Leggiero con moto, with a second subject based on the Welsh folksong ‘Y Deryn Du’ (‘The Blackbird’), which appears in its original form at the end of the movement. The Vivo second movement is a scherzo, which as in several similar movements I have written is built out of scraps of material of popular character. It seems to me that, just as in Classical times, a scherzo should be related in some way to contemporary popular music. The rhetorical outer sections of the last movement, Adagio sostenuto, frame a tranquil fugue, the first I had written since I was a teenager. The last two notes in the first violin refer to the initials of Berthold Goldschmidt’s name. ...

Kreutzer Quartet

The Kreutzer Quartet
has forged an enviable reputation as one of the Europe's most dynamic and innovative string quartets. They are the dedicatees of numerous works, and over many years have forged creative partnerships with composers including Sir Michael Tippett, David Matthews, Michael Finnissy, Judith Weir, and Haflidi Hallgrimsson. They have a particularly strong relationship to a cross-section of leading American composers, having collaborated intensively with George Rochberg in the last few years of his life, as long as working closely with figures as Elliott Schwartz, and the prolific symphonist Gloria Coates. As recording artists they have won critical acclaim for their discs on the Naxos, Metier, and Chandos labels. They are Artists in Association at Quartet at York University, and at Wiltons Music Hall. Their work in collaboration with art galleries has garnered much attention, and large audiences, particularly their annual residency at the Tate Gallery, St Ives.

Booklet for David Matthews: Complete String Quartets, Vol. 6