The 4 x 4 Mixtapes

 So, yeah . . . string quartets.

Turns out that string quartets are among my favorite classical music forms, along with large ensemble symphonic pieces and solo piano (or exclusively piano recordings, be they solo or multiple - Ives's pieces for two pianos tuned a quarter tone apart are stunning). I tend to approach composers I am interested first through either large ensemble symphonic-style pieces or through string quartets. I think in general the reason I like string quartets is that they put compositional ideas in stark relief, without having them buried in potentially obfuscating orchestrations. For my own creative education, they are also important for studying how string instruments relate to each other, which is important if you ever find yourself in a room full of guitar players & you don't want to sound like a jam band.

Several of these pieces are benchmarks for me. I discovered the Debussy a couple years back when I was on a Debussy binge. Interestingly, this is one of the pieces that I have a clear favorite version I listen to: the Kodaly Quartet plays this faster and jauntier than most, and it's definitely how I like it. The next to cuts are performed by the Kronos Quartet, a gateway drug for classical music in general and string quartets in particular. Their Black Angels album made a huge impression on me. The pieces they play are notable as well: Gorecki before he went all tonal, and perhaps the best known female composer in the west, Sofia Gubaidulina. Shostokovich was another binge for me, and I think his string quartets are his real signature, not the more famous symphonies. Beethoven follows up some twelve tone & modernist guys, and is in turn followed by the out-of-time Bartok. Rochberg & Carter round out the first mixtape, from late mid-century when tonality was gauche (Rochberg) and modernism was hip (Carter).

The second mixtape starts with Mr. Twelve Tone himself, Arnold Schoenberg, and travels through Schnittke to Steve Reich's minimalism. Morton Feldman's pointillist abstraction is up next, then side one rounds out with some lovely Brahms. Side two devolves into that time Karlheinz Stockhausen sent up the members of Arditti Quartet each in their own helicopter to play a string quartet, the loopy bastard. Apparently Karl was a bit less concerned about his carbon footprint than his reputation as an avant-garde enfant terrible. Side two is rounded out by two of my favorites, Ives and Ligeti, who are perhaps less known for their string quartets.

Indeed, you can, if you wish, dub these on to 90 minute cassettes and play them in your 81 Tercel. But why bother? Hit the Spotify button and enjoy.

String Quartet Power Rankings:

1. Beethoven (late)
2. Bartok
3. Gubaidulina
4. Shostakovich
5. Debussy
6. Carter