This is pretty much just another great set of pieces (and performances) in my recent modern composition binge. I've heard a few things by Schonberg, but I really like these smaller group pieces. Sometimes I think it is hard for a contemporary listener to understand what is so revolutionary here, and perhaps the is the composer's main triumph. When one is not too concerned with academic matters such as compositional methods, and simply lets the melodies and the layers take shape, what is revealed is an imagination that is unsurpassed in pieces that seem intensely classy to this day. Reading Alex Ross' 'The Rest is Noise,' I wasn't sure that I wanted to listen to these simply because, well, ole Arnold is a right old blowhard/dickhead. Thankfully, as was the case with Miles Davis (equally dickish), these pieces reveal a fragile, vulnerable spirit, and are informed with a mesaure of feeling equal to the machismo their creator was known for.
5 comments:
Fantastic. Some of my fav string quartets. I like Arditti too and haven't heard this. thanks, B
i've always had a love/hate relationship with Schoenberg's music, but these quartets are a milestones indeed!
Sadly 1st track seems damaged, right after the beginning.
Anyway a great record indeed: thanks. :)
where is the link?
Thing is, Alex Ross is the Dickhead ;)
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