Kurtág, Lutoslawski, Gubaidulina: String Quartets (2001)

Amzon.com
This Montaigne disc (a 2001 reissue of 1990 recordings) contains string quartets by three contemporary composers in the post-Webernian tradition. In the spotlight is Gyorgy Kurtag, the Hungarian composer who famously bloomed late with a relatively small body of music, who contributes three pieces. The disc is filled out with the string quartet of Witold Lutoslawski and the second quartet of Sofia Gubaidulina. Kurtag's quartets are some of the finest of the 20th century, clearly fusing Webern and Bartok. Lutoslawski's quartet is one of his more radical works, though I don't think he's at his best at his most radical while Gubaidulina's quartet may be the greatest of the three works represented here, which was premiered in 1987.

Tracklist

György Kurtág
• Quartet for Strings, Op. 1
• Hommage à Mihály András, 12 microludes for string quartet, Op 13
• Officium breve in memoriam Andreae Szervanszky

Witold Lutoslawski
• Quatuor à cordes

Sofia Gubaidulina
• Streichquartett No. 2


Arditti String Quartet