Philip Glass: String Quartets Nos. 1-4 (2010)

The string quartets of Philip Glass occupy a small but significant place in his catalog, for they present a sound palette that is distinct from his other ensemble works, and offer expressions that are unusually neo-Romantic for this minimalist composer. The chromatic dissonances and apparent atonality of the String Quartet No. 1 (1966) separate it from the rest of the quartets, but even in this early work, the contrapuntal lines are plainly built up from the repeated patterns that would later become the composer's calling ... Read More

The string quartets of Philip Glass occupy a small but significant place in his catalog, for they present a sound palette that is distinct from his other ensemble works, and offer expressions that are unusually neo-Romantic for this minimalist composer. The chromatic dissonances and apparent atonality of the String Quartet No. 1 (1966) separate it from the rest of the quartets, but even in this early work, the contrapuntal lines are plainly built up from the repeated patterns that would later become the composer's calling card. The String Quartet No. 2, "Company" (1983), and the String Quartet No. 3, "Mishima" (1985), were adapted respectively from scores for a theater piece and a film, and in their modal harmonies and gentle deployment of patterns reflect the softer approach that the mature Glass adopted for much of his acoustic instrumental music. The String Quartet No. 4, "Buczak" (1989), shares much of the harmonic lushness, rocking ostinatos, and expressive warmth of the previous two quartets, but... Read Less