Music for String Quartet - E. Carter

The Arditti may set new standards for technical excellence in these performances. FM Keynote … where Carter with his dense textures and concentrated argument can so easily seem lovelessly intellectual and nothing more, the Arditti performances of all four quartets immediately convey a musical experience that can be appreciated even by the unprepared listener. The Guardian(Top Four Records of the Year 1989) That drama of confrontation is even more strongly brought out in the Quartet No. 3 (1971), a staggering score whose teeming invention is so tautly controlled that one hardly dares take a breath throughout its 20-minute span … That genius is done glorious justice by the Arditti Quartet’s astonishingly assured performances, vividly recorded. Gramophone IRCA (USA); Prix de l’Academie Charles Cros KTC 2507 has been noted as a BBC Music Magazine Benchmark Recording for this repertoire Elliott Carter is hailed as the 'master quartet builder of our time'. These astonishing quartets continue to impress - just as Carter has described his personal reaction to Bach's cantatas, they are a central musical experience of the late twentieth-century. These recordings by the Arditti Quartet were made under the auspices of Elliott Carter himself. The Arditti Quartet enjoys a world-wide reputation for their spirited and technically refined interpretations of contemporary and earlier 20th century music. Several hundred works have been written for the ensemble since its foundation in 1974 which have left a permanent mark on 20th century repertoire and have given the Arditti Quartet a firm place in music history. The ensemble believes that close collaboration with composers is vital to the process of interpreting modern music and attempts to work with every composer it plays.