NICOLAS BACRI (b.1961): String Quartets No. 3, Op. 18 "Esquisses pour un tombeau", No. 4, Op. 42 "Omaggio a Beethoven", No. 5, Op. 57 & No. 6, Op. 97.

Catalogue Number: 02J113

Label: AR-RE-SE

Reference: 2007-1

Format: CD

Price: $17.98

Description: These quartets all espouse a conventional 20th-century vocabulary - if there can be such a thing - and avoid any trace of avant-gardism entirely. Nonetheless they are imbued with Bacri's striking individuality, and at no point do they really sound like anyone else- and this despite his use of quotations and allusions to the 20th century's two great quartet composers, Shostakovich and Bartók, and in the 4th quartet, explicitly to Beethoven. Classical forms anchor the structure of the pieces; sonata form, passacaglia and theme-and- variations all put in appearances here. Serious works, all share a somewhat melancholy aspect; there are in memoriam movements and the third quartet is entitled 'Sketches for a tomb', so don't come looking for lighthearted divertissements here, but the tension is handled with such skill that the impression is always of deep emotional involvement, but never morose. For a composer to embrace time-honoured forms in a tonal vocabulary these days is a bold move, when catch-all eclectic modernism is the order of the day; to produce works of this quality and variety within those constraints is little short of remarkable. Psophos Quartet.

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