“These four must be stopped…,” Paul Griffiths wrote more than twenty five years ago about the, even back then, widely praised Arditti Quartet, referring to these excellent musicians’ gift for making wonderful music irrespective of the quality of the actual composition. As regards the present album, though, we need not worry about this dilemma, given that each of the compositions by Rebecca Saunders, Benedict Mason, Luke Bedford and John Zorn is a little masterpiece in its own right. The Arditti Quartet has not only helped to shape our perception of contemporary music over the past forty years but, thanks to their accumulated experience, these four musicians also exemplify the future of this fascinating musical universe.
“The Arditti Quartet brings together four diverse, cutting-edge works for string quartet. The longest and most venerable is Benedict Mason’s String Quartet No.2 from 1993, which plays out like a six-movement harlequinade of sounds and techniques.”
Financial Times
Rebecca Saunders wins the Mauricio Kagel music prize
