This is the third volume from Bridge of the music of American
composer Fred Lerdahl. Volumes 1 and 2 (9191 and 9269) featured
both chamber and orchestral pieces. Lerdahl's innovative work,
The First Voices, for eight percussionists and three
female voices, appeared last year on Naxos (review).
Lerdahl's three String Quartets, his only ones so far, are closely
linked to each other by design and material. During composition
of the First, Lerdahl had the idea of a triple quartet cycle,
which he abandoned as unworkable during the Second, and settled
instead for a more modest double quartet sequence. However,
by the time the Third was commissioned, Lerdahl had developed
his so-called 'spiral' form theory - in simple terms, expanding
variations, each one-and-a-half times the length of the previous
- and he set about realising his original project, which also
entailed revising the Second.
If all that sounds dusty and dry, the music itself is more memorable:
the listener with little interest in the mathematics of it all
need only know that the chord-length variation that opens the
First is extended in duration and scope until the final variation
of the Third, which itself occupies the entire Quartet. The
conclusion of the cycle interpolates "distorted reminiscences
from the first two quartets", with the coda a reprise of the
opening of the First in reverse order. That said, all three
Quartets are also stand-alone works.
The First Quartet is the only one of the three that has been
previously recorded, in the late Eighties by its dedicatees
the Juilliard Quartet (CRI 551). However, Lerdahl made some
minor changes to it in 2008. In effect the Daedalus Quartet
are giving a premiere recording of all three works. In accordance
with Lerdahl's spiral idea, the variations begin with a brief
chord, growing by fifty percent with each subsequent variation,
an increase in complexity also evident. The First Quartet is,
almost by definition, tentative, questioning, reflexive, and
in most respects the least gripping of the trio. However, the
last of the fifteen variations of the First lasts around six
minutes, more than a quarter of the total length of the work,
and by this time things are starting to get going, the music
moving away from its academic origins towards a more emotionally
satisfying experience.
The Second Quartet is developmental, flowing and relatively
extrovert - and both more imaginative and somewhat more lyrical,
attributable in part to the greater length of the variations.
According to Lerdahl, each of the two sections of the Second
consists of the following five parts: "(1) a quiet introductory
section; (2) two parallel developmental sections of great intensity
and contrapuntal complexity; (3) a whirlwind section that gradually
dissipates the energy; (4) a slower, more lyrical passage followed
by a pulsating but subdued scherzando; (5) an intimation of
a chorale-coda."
The Third Quartet is the most intellectually intense and, as
the work of an older, wiser composer, the most compelling as
an independent item. It is at the same time more extravagant
in its textures and turbulence, and more 'conservative', as
it not only ties up threads but also takes a nostalgic stock-check
of all that has gone before, ultimately returning to its very
beginnings - or dust, if it may be taken as a metaphor for the
human lot.
Lerdahl's music poses challenges to listener and performer alike.
The idiom is frankly atonal, yet not mercilessly so - there
are still plenty of snatches of melody, if not necessarily hummable
in nature, and dissonance is neither relentless nor particularly
harsh. Admirers of the string quartets of Schoenberg, Bartók,
Webern or Schnittke should feel at home here - others will likely
need more perseverance. As far as the Daedalus Quartet's interpretation
goes, they deal with the leaps in dynamics, high tempo spurts,
awkward rhythms and unpredictable phrasing with ease and poise,
bringing a warmth of tone to music that in other hands could
sound decidedly chilly.
Recordings at the AAAL are always of sterling quality, but here,
surprisingly, there is some fleeting distortion evident in the
loudest sections of the First Quartet. The CD booklet is neat
and informative, producer David Starobin's notes on Lerdahl's
Quartets well written. The Daedalus Quartet's biography is impressive,
but readers probably did not need to have a quotation from every
good review they have ever received, nor a list of every composer's
music they have ever played and every venue they have ever appeared
at.
The Quartets are allocated a single track each, which some listeners
may find needless, not so say a minor irritation. The works
are in continuous movements, but there are certainly pauses
for breath, even in the final Quartet - plenty of scope for
internal points of reference for the listener.
Byzantion
Collected reviews and contact at reviews.gramma.co.uk
Daedalus Quartet (Min-Young Kim (violin I/II); Ara Gregorian (violin
II/I); Jessica Thompson (viola); Raman Ramakrishnan (cello)) 