Topic: The ARDITTI String Quartet

[snyprrr]

i was also hoping to generate any interest here.

i am suffering from arditti burnout, but i just can't seem to help myself.

recent cds by marco, grosskopf, and nishimura reveal a boundless sea of variety within the possibilities of high modernism.

any new release info?
or favorites...rarities?

[snyprrr]

i have noticed an incredible amount of  newer composers in the arditti discography these days.

ole henrick moe
ralf wallin
rueda
the mexico cd
the portuguese cd
pintscher
fedele

and i noticed new releases of the complete works of lachenmann and harvey...

but i am wondering i've they are done exploring the 60s and 70s. don't get me wrong, they've covered their territory well, however their repertoire list reveals some oldies but goodies that i wonder if they'll ever get to. of course i can't think of anything off hand...

i've always wondered if they'll do a "xenakis vol2"....though given the amount of material left it would be difficult. perhaps what i mean is, when will we ever get a recording of "ergma", his last qrt? the mondriaan qrt recording seems MIA.

any news on "ergma"?

[snyprrr]

look, this is how sick i am

i've had that ligeti/sony disc for about a year and it's still in the wrapper! i keep a couple of cds still in wraps, just in case of emergency.....oy!

and yes, i'm sure it is the best version...please don't ask me to break it out! let me wear out the lasalle first.

ARDITTI DISAPPOINTMENTS:

these are hard to come by....but recently i compared their bartok no.4.....and it is an amazingly univilved performance. just listen to even the emerson's opening and you just shake your head. the arditti are so low wattage it defies....has anyone noticed this?

the problem is, even bad music they play with such commitment. i just got IVAN FEDELE string quartets 1-2 (stradivarius), and this was the first arditti i HATED upon first listen. a little dusapin, a lot of discord...not what i was expecting from this composer, whose orchestral works i like. i will, however, let it all digest.


has anyone noticed a trend in quartet writing:

spiritual/meditative- "world out of kilter"- spiritual/meditative

1-2-3....so many quartets from the 90s on seem to have hit on this formula.

btw- ARDITTI ON GOOGLE VIDEO: lachenmann qrt no.3 "grido"!!!!!!!

[CRCulver]

I read an interview with Irvine Arditti where he said the Ardittis never learnt Xenakis Ergma. He wrote of the piece, "It is similar to Tetora and poses similar problems," so perhaps he didn't find it musically fresh. I get the impression that Xenakis alienated a lot of performers in his dotage.

[snyprrr]

thanks for the ergma...

yea, xenakis' late style takes sooome getting used to. i got the cd on mode called "string music" which includes ittidra and voile (why they couldn't fit the quartet on a 50 min cd i don't know)....just slow moving clusters....it's almost as if there's nothing going on in late xenakis...everything seems to be balled up in itself like a giant ball of twine.  one of his last orchestral pieces, ioolkos, is...just....ugly....but i have now grown accoustomed to his late style and enjoy the new orchestral series on timpani cds.  maybe a thread on late xenakis is in order.

HAS ANYONE HEARD the new arditti cd featuring cage/30 pieces for str qrt and ullman/komposition 2 ?

[George]

or favorites...rarities?

The Schoenberg Quartets qualify for both categories for me.   

[greg]

thanks for the ergma...

yea, xenakis' late style takes sooome getting used to. i got the cd on mode called "string music" which includes ittidra and voile (why they couldn't fit the quartet on a 50 min cd i don't know)....just slow moving clusters....it's almost as if there's nothing going on in late xenakis...everything seems to be balled up in itself like a giant ball of twine.  one of his last orchestral pieces, ioolkos, is...just....ugly....but i have now grown accoustomed to his late style and enjoy the new orchestral series on timpani cds.  maybe a thread on late xenakis is in order.

HAS ANYONE HEARD the new arditti cd featuring cage/30 pieces for str qrt and ullman/komposition 2 ?

you mean this?
http://www.amazon.com/Xenakis-Music-for-Strings/dp/B000AA4J98/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1231808080&sr=8-2

it's not all of his greatest stuff, but I like the track "Aroura".

Ittidra is actually Arditti spelled backwards, and was written for them (for anyone who didn't know).

[snyprrr]

I STILL CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO HIGHLIGHT PREVIOUS MSS...


however...the person who heard the cage/ullman....please explain. i was mainly curious about the ullman...is it like lachenmann, feldman, or?
and also, the other recording of the cage piece is live...and i think this piece requires the performers to be seated quite far from each other....and the mode recording just doesn't seem to work for me, so i was wondering if this new recording had some special spacial component, or even if the actual recording/resonance was well handled. i'm just surprised that you said "unfortunately"...did you not know what you were in for? (it's not easy on the ears stuff), or was it the performance/recording?

as for the Xenakis...yea that's the disc. it STILL galls me though that they couldn't find room on a 55min disc for a 10min quartet. i know it's in xenakis' wretched late style, but, god bless, i invested a lot of patience with xenakis "in the early days"haha, and i want to hear his complete works (holding breath).
but it's not a hospitable introduction to ANY facet of xenakis. "aroura" signals his classic mid period of 70s classics, and makes a great companion to "retours-windugen"(1976) for 12 cellos (ANOTHER PIECE that could have fit on that disc.

i hate when you have to collect a composer piece meal.

[George]

I STILL CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO HIGHLIGHT PREVIOUS MSS...

Click "quote" on the top right of the message you wish to quote.

[greg]

as for the Xenakis...yea that's the disc. it STILL galls me though that they couldn't find room on a 55min disc for a 10min quartet. i know it's in xenakis' wretched late style, but, god bless, i invested a lot of patience with xenakis "in the early days"haha, and i want to hear his complete works (holding breath).
but it's not a hospitable introduction to ANY facet of xenakis. "aroura" signals his classic mid period of 70s classics, and makes a great companion to "retours-windugen"(1976) for 12 cellos (ANOTHER PIECE that could have fit on that disc.

i hate when you have to collect a composer piece meal.

I agree. It's a bit lazy. Windungen would be a nice addition, too. The recording I have is for, I think 7 instead of 12 cellos (yeah, weird, i know).

[snyprrr]

wow, I've been here 120 days? yikes!

anyhow...

ARDITTI ALERT!!!

I saw on Amazon a pre-order (late July release) of "Brush-Stroke" which, I suppose (no real info) is going to be an all Asian cd (on Mode, but no info there, either). They only listed 2 composers, the one, Liang something, I believe, is American (Serashi Fragments?, title track?).

This would be the first stereotypical Arditti disc since "Mexico." They really have cut down on the issues lately, not to mention "classic" composers. I seem to lose interest in them the more they insist on mining the younger generation (not that I'm against that sort of thing).

I know they've released the complete SQs of Jonathan Harvey (2cds-arrrgh), and the complete Lachenmann, but they were kind of expected.

[snyprrr]

can this be moved to "recordings"?



I haven't been following the Arditti's recent "Complete" traversals of Dusapin, Harvey, or Lachenmann (others are on the bandwagon with Complete Ruzicka, Schnebel, etc,...), or their collaborations with Uri Caine or Pedro Cameiro, so, I've been delving into their back catalog of lost stuff.

"Mexico" (Mode):

3 violin pieces and 3 SQs. At first, the avacado cover put me off, but it's a classic Arditti line-up. If you have the rest, this makes a good companion.

Philippe Boesmans "Summer Dreams" (Ricercare):

This is one sweeet SQ! It might do Dutilleux one better!! Pretty much all one could ask for. The discmate is for baritone and piano, and,...mmm,...eh, not for me.

Japanese Composers (Fontec):

No, I didn't win this when it came on Ebay a few months ago, but I certainly helped drain the winner's account! This is like the grail of Arditti discs, haha!

B. Proeve, SQ No.5 (Zeitklang), and Gerhard Staebler, "Strike the Ear" (Koch), and Georg Katzer, SQ No.5 (Wergo):

Here are 3 classic Arditti-type workouts, all choc-full of interesting sounds, different from one another, but all held together with that burning white light that Composers writing for the Ardittis must have experienced once turned on to the group's effortless playing.



I have a feeling those glory days of the early to mid '90s are gone gone gone, but that's really ok, because we really don't need hundreds of new SQs written each year, do we? (unless I was king of the world and that's what I wanted for breakfast).

[CD]

These sound great, thanks for the tip.

[snyprrr]

I read somewhere that the Ardittis are at work on a Ferneyhough 'Complete' cycle, I think for Neos.

And, they will finally be recording Gerhard's SQs,... hopefully with a few other pieces thrown in (right now, we only have one recording of the SQs, with no discmates, leaving very very short playing time).

And, Vol.2 of the Cristobal Halffter cycle will be released on Amazon next month.

I'm getting closer to checking out the Rihm cd 'Fetzen' on Winter&Winter, another newish release.


As per the 'Classics', there are still a few gaps to be had (the Gerhard a prime example), but it would seem obvious as to what the possibilities are (again, here comes the Gerhard). A quick perusal of the group's site will give you an example of the WarHorses that they still play (which seems to be most ALL of them, haha), and memory should indict which have yet to see the headphones.

As the Ardittis have naturally expanded beyond their classic Montaigne days

eh,... what do i have to share?

[springrite]

I love the Ligeti and the Berg CDs.

What is the verdict on this one?

Ruzikca {b.1948}, Klangschatten; String Quartets 1-4 (Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, speaker w.Arditti Quartet)

[snyprrr]

These are the ones (I don't have) that I'd like to hear:

Spiral of Light
Portugese Music for Strings and Marimba


Harvey - Complete String Quartets & Trio


Lachenmann - Various New Works for String Quartet


Arditti Quartet - Mexico
New Music for Strings


Vienne 1900
Celebrating the flowering of the arts in Vienna at the turn of the last century


Matthias Pintscher: Chamber Music


Henze - String Quartets Nos 1-5


 

I was pleasantly surprised by the 'Mexico' cd. Don't let the avacado cover fool ya. Good, classic Arditti.

The Henze is another keeper.

The Pintscher is... mmm... it's ok, but you might want to try the 'Rihm/'Fetzen' cd, which has a very similar program. If you're like me, and will end up getting everything anyhow, then the Pintscher is a good, minor addition. The main SQ does have quite a nice little gimmick at the end,... but it does also remind me of (the good) Rihm,... the Arditti have quite a lot of these cds now (Neuwirth, Herchet, Gasser, etc.,...).

Probably I'd go with the original Montaigne Harvey disc. Ardittis seem now to be going back to key Composers, and wrapping up in a bow a Love Letter to them (Harvey, Lachenmann, Dusapin, next Ferneyhough). I suppose if you don't have the originals, this makes sense, but, for me, these are low priority.

[snyprrr]

I love the Ligeti and the Berg CDs.

What is the verdict on this one?

Ruzikca {b.1948}, Klangschatten; String Quartets 1-4 (Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, speaker w.Arditti Quartet)

I like the Ruzicka a lot. He's one of the Fathers of the New German Music from 1970 on. He sounds to me like a mature, refined Lachenmann (who is also refined, but different). That's just a must have Arditti disc, I think,... of course, that means nothing coming from me!

[petrarch]

These are the ones (I don't have) that I'd like to hear:

Spiral of Light
Portugese Music for Strings and Marimba


Harvey - Complete String Quartets & Trio


Lachenmann - Various New Works for String Quartet


Arditti Quartet - Mexico
New Music for Strings

Spiral of Light is on my wishlist. Of the others, my preferences point to the Lachenmann is strongest, with From Mexico next and Harvey last.

[torut]

Pandora's Box

audio: https://www.col-legno.com/en/catalog/complete_catalog/pandoras_box

Rebecca Saunders - Fletch (2012)
Benedict Mason - String Quartet No. 2 (1993)
Luke Bedford - Wonderful Four-Headed Nightingale (2013)
John Zorn - Pandora’s Box (2013) with soprano (Sarah Maria Sun)

I was mostly interested in Zorn's piece (stylistically more conventional in line with the tradition of Schoenberg) and Saunders's (intense, like typical avant-garde piece), but I also greatly enjoyed the works of the composers I had not heard of before. Mason's piece contains diverse musical elements, fun to listen to. Bedford's piece is beautiful and most accessible. I was a little surprised to hear Arditti Quartet playing such romantic melodies.

[amw]

I heard that on Qobuz when it came out. I think Benedict Mason's piece was my favourite actually—I have his 1st string quartet (also played by the Ardittis, in an earlier incarnation) on a cd. Also, Sarah Maria Sun is insanely good. Zorn after 1990ish is not my cuppa, but damn.