String Quartets 1–3
String Quartets 1-3 | ||||
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minimalist music | ||||
Length | 63:17 | |||
Label | Argo | |||
Producer | Andrew Cornall | |||
Michael Nyman chronology | ||||
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Balanescu Quartet chronology | ||||
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1991 Alternative Cover | ||||
2002 Decca Reissue | ||||
String Quartets 1–3 is a 1991 album by the
The album was issued by Argo Records with two different covers. Decca Records reissued the album in the UK on July 8, 2002, as part of the British Music Collection, giving it yet a third cover.
Nyman's four string quartets are the subject of chapter 7 in Pwyll ap Siôn's The Music of Michael Nyman: Texts, Contexts, and Intertexts.[1]
The album is the first of several recordings of the Nyman string quartets.
The album was reissued by MN Records with a new cover and liner notes in November 2012. This edition is subtitled "Chamber Music Vol. II".[2] It is not the aforementioned rerecording.
String Quartet No. 1
The String Quartet No. 1 (1985) was commissioned by the
Schoenberg's String Quartet No. 2 is notable in two ways: first, it broke with convention by adding a part for a
String Quartet No. 2
String Quartet No. 2 (1988) was commissioned for a dance work called Miniatures,
Each of the six movements are in different rhythms: the first movement is 4-beat, the second 5-beat, the third 6-beat, the fourth 7-beat, and the fifth, 9-beat (2+3+2+2). The sixth and final movement is in multiple cycles of the preceding beat patterns.
String Quartet No. 3
String Quartet No. 3 (1990), commissioned by Alexander Balanescu, is based on
Some cause of the variation is that the quartet is a celebration of the fall of
Like the first String Quartet, the piece is a reflection of Nyman's postgraduate work with Thurston Dart, who sent him to Romania in 1965 to gather folk music. The Romanian folk melodies that have been added to Out of the Ruins were all gathered on that trip.
Track listing
String Quartet No. 2
- I
- II
- III
- IV
- V
- VI
String Quartet No. 3 - beginning
- fig. D
String Quartet No. 1 - beginning
- fig. B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
Personnel
- Michael Nyman, composer and liner notes
- Balanescu Quartet:
- Alexander Balanescu: violinI
- Jonathan Carney: violin II
- Kate Musker: viola
- Anthony Hinnigan: cello
- Producer: Andrew Cornall
- Engineer: John Dunkerley
- Tape editor: Simon Bertram
- Publisher: Kelly Music
- Series design: Joe Ewart at Assorted Images
- Art direction: Ann Bradbeer
- Cover art: Charcoal Drawings of the Balanescu Quartet by Paul Richards
References
- ^ Aldershot, Hants: Ashgate Publishing, 2007
- ^ "String Quartets Nos 1-3". Amazon.
- ^ p. 165
- ^ p. 166
- ^ p.173
- ^ pp. 174-175
External links
- String Quartets 1-3 on MichaelNyman.com including the complete liner notes.