Elliott Carter - String Quartets (1988)

In 1978, on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, Elliott Carter was hailed as the 'master quartet builder of our time'. Ten years later, with a fourth quartet added to the series, these astonishing works 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. The four quartets are as unmistakably consistent (and as undeniably masterpieces) as those of Bartok, Schoenberg, Beethoven, and similarly embody not only a single compositional aesthetic, elaborated however richly and variously in each of the works, but also an approach to the medium, to music itself, and to life.

Tracklist

CD 1

String Quartet No. 1:
Fantasia Maestoso
Allegro scorrevole
Variations
String Quartet No. 4:
Appassionata - Scherzando - Lento

CD 2

String Quartet No. 2
String Quartet No. 3
Elegy

Etcetera Recodings: KTC 1066