RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet - John McCabe: String Quartets Nos. 3, 4 & 5 (1999)

Tracklist

01. String Quartet No. 3, Pt. 1: I. Variants: a. Moderato
02. String Quartet No. 3, Pt. 1: I. Variants: b. Vivo
03. String Quartet No. 3, Pt. 1: I. Variants: c. Lento
04. String Quartet No. 3, Pt. 1: I. Variants: d. Vivo
05. String Quartet No. 3, Pt. 1: I. Variants: e. Lento
06. String Quartet No. 3, Pt. 1: I. Variants: f. Allegro deciso
07. String Quartet No. 3, Pt. 1: I. Variants: g. Lento
08. String Quartet No. 3, Pt. 2: II. Scherzo I. Presto
09. String Quartet No. 3, Pt. 2: III. Romanza. Andante
10. String Quartet No. 3, Pt. 2: IV. Scherzo II. Presto possibile
11. String Quartet No. 3, Pt. 3: Va. Passacaglia. Lento
12. String Quartet No. 3, Pt. 3: Vb.
13. String Quartet No. 3, Pt. 3: Vc.
14. String Quartet No. 3, Pt. 3: Vd.
15. String Quartet No. 3, Pt. 3: Ve. Allegro agitato
16. String Quartet No. 3, Pt. 3: Vf. Lento
17. String Quartet No. 4: Ia. Adagio
18. String Quartet No. 4: Ib. Vigoroso
19. String Quartet No. 4: Ic. Andante
20. String Quartet No. 4: Id. Vivo
21. String Quartet No. 4: Ie. Andante
22. String Quartet No. 4: If. Vivo
23. String Quartet No. 4: Ig. Lento
24. String Quartet No. 4: Ih. Moderato
25. String Quartet No. 4: Ii. Allegro
26. String Quartet No. 4: Ij. Lento
27. String Quartet No. 5: I. Metamorphosis, Egg, Larvae, Pupae. Lento, flessibile
28. String Quartet No. 5: II. Hatching I
29. String Quartet No. 5: III. Hatching II
30. String Quartet No. 5: IV. Nuptial Flight
31. String Quartet No. 5: V. The Court
32. String Quartet No. 5: VI. Figure of Eight Dance. Orientation to Sources of Nectar and Pollen. Allegro leggiero
33. String Quartet No. 5: VII. Round Dance. Orientation to Sources of Nectar and Pollen. Allegro vivo
34. String Quartet No. 5: VIII. Bee and Flower. Andante
35. String Quartet No. 5: IX. Wild Nest. Allegro deciso e marcato
36. String Quartet No. 5: X. Primitive Hive I (Skep)
37. String Quartet No. 5: XI. Primitive Hive II
38. String Quartet No. 5: XII. Bee Keeper. Allegro deciso
39. String Quartet No. 5: XIII. Expulsion and Killing of an Enemy. Allegro nervoso
40. String Quartet No. 5: XIV. Fight Between Workers and Drones. Allegro agitato – Lento pesante – Allegro vivace

John McCabe's dual career as composer and pianist has established him as one of the leading British musicians of his generation. This premiere recording his three latest String Quartets is being released to celebrate the composer's sixtieth birthday on 21 April.

McCabe has produced an impressive body of music for strings, spread fairly evenly throughout his career. The works range from pieces for solo instruments to ensemble works including five quartets, a Trio and a now-lost Quintet (1962).

The Third and Fifth Quartets were both commissioned by the Fishguard Festival and premiered by the Gabrieli Quartet. The five movements of No 3 are arranged symmetrically in three parts like an arch, the two weightier outer ones enclosing a central group of three brief study-like intermezzi. The fourteen sections of No 5 were inspired by a series of aquatints called 'The Bees' by Graham Sutherland, but despite this apparently sectional design, the work is fully integrated, the music relying on organic developmental processes rather than the predominantly variational techniques of McCabe's earlier quartets. The single-movement Fourth Quartet was composed to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of that quartet composer par excellence, Joseph Haydn. Premiered at the Wigmore Hall on 20October 1982 the score originally bore the subtitle Un piccolo divertimento, later crossed through.

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