Arditti String Quartet - Abrahamsen: String Quartets 1 - 4 (2017)

Hans Abrahamsen is one of the most important composers of our time. The Winter & Winter production of Abrahamsen's song cycle let me tell you, released last year, is a phenomenal success of New Music. Now, Winter & Winter presents his string quartets 1, 2, 3 and 4, performed by the Arditti String Quartet, one of the most renowned string quartets of our time. Arditti interprets excellently the fascinating works of Abrahamsen.

The four string quartets spanned almost the entire period of his composer's career: String Quartet no. 1 is composed in 1973, when Abrahamsen is in his twenties. String Quartet No. 4 will be released in 2012, when he celebrates his 60th birthday. This is one aspect, but the quartets also span an exceedingly important arc over the depths of his life and the center of his work. In 1990, Abrahamsen experienced a composition crisis, followed by a period of creative silence.

It is only with the turn of the millennium that Abrahamsen breaks through this creative pause. In 2000 he made a breakthrough with the composition of his piano concerto, which he wrote for his wife Anne-Marie Abildskov. The publication plans Winter & Winter in early 2018.

These string quartets are contemporary works, fine, gentle, sensitive, stimulating and appealing music. Not only the compositions fascinate, but also the production directed by the WDR Cologne: recording art on the highest level.

TRACKLIST

01. String Quartet No. 4: I Light and Airy (High in the Sky Singing)
02. String Quartet No. 4: II with Motion (Dance of Light)
03. String Quartet No. 4: III Dark, Heavy and Earthy (With a Heavy Groove)
04. String Quartet No. 4: IV Gently "Rocking" (With Utmost Sensitivity, Babbling)
05. String Quartet No. 3: I Calmo, con tenerezza e simplicita
06. String Quartet No. 3: II
07. String Quartet No. 3: III
08. String Quartet No. 3: IV Molto tranquillo et lontano legato
09. String Quartet No. 2: I Andante espressivo
10. String Quartet No. 2: II Vivo, ben ritmico
11. String Quartet No. 2: III Tranquillo con delicatezza
12. String Quartet No. 2: IV Presto energico
13. 10 Preludes (String Quartet No. 1): 1
14. 10 Preludes (String Quartet No. 1): 2
15. 10 Preludes (String Quartet No. 1): 3
16. 10 Preludes (String Quartet No. 1): 4
17. 10 Preludes (String Quartet No. 1): 5
18. 10 Preludes (String Quartet No. 1): 6
19. 10 Preludes (String Quartet No. 1): 7
20. 10 Preludes (String Quartet No. 1): 8
21. 10 Preludes (String Quartet No. 1): 9
22. 10 Preludes (String Quartet No. 1): 10