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I recently acquired a Nonesuch LP of Concord SQs interpretation of Rochberg's 3rd Quartet. I am not much of a musicologist, but I can certainly ascertain when something is just right. And this is just right! The Concord attacks the music with vengeance. The pizzicatos in the 4th movement are quite compelling. The music keeps the listener engaged and at times, with a tight fisted grip.
Sonically, this LP ranks up there with some of the best. Good 3D spatial depth and width. Tonal balance is very very good. Just the right amount of color and woody tone to make it feel real.
As a side note, this score appears to have been heavily influenced by Bartok's quartets. Several times during the 4th movement I became aware of Bartok-like passages. Very interesting.
Follow Ups:
This, to me, is "typical" late Rochberg--a style that synthesizes many of the streams of the 20th Century together. Rochberg's own notes for the LP are quite instructive in this regard. He started out as a hard core serialist, but decided in time that serialism didn't have all the expressive range he wanted, so he created a new style for himself that integrated traditional tonality, serialism, and much in between. This quartet falls right into that mold.
He's also known for having written a number of pieces "in the style of....", but to me that is apart from his primary body of work. Certainly an accessible and very competent composer, but not quite in the top echelon of the 20th Century for me.
Lots of great modern music on Nonesuch, usually with good to excellent sound.
dh
Nonesuch started out in the 60s mainly as a budget label, reissuing many excellent European recordings but unfortunately with terrible sound quality. Somewhere, somehow, they turned into an excellent first issue label, most significantly but not entirely featuring contemporary American composers, often with great production values and sound quality.
Look out for their Milhaud Quartet for the End of Time.
Incredible.
Streaming it on TIDAL now.
Interesting music, to say the least.
Let me know what you think of the 3rd and 4th movements.
Also, what is your take on the sonics, given that you have a digital stream vs. my analog.
But the wife didn't allow it to go much past the first half of #3 part A. =:-0
Reminds me of the time I took my wife to a Keith Jarrett concert. 10 minutes into the concert she asked when is going to stop warming up and start playing real music. Classic!
not much into string quartet music, as it turns out. Mostly likes orchestra(romantic period and anything French), opera and ballet.
Me?
Anything really well recorded.
Because: AUDIOPHILE!!!
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