American String Quartets

[Beef Oven!]

Having received a £10 qobuz credit for taking out a Gramophone Digital Club subscription (monthly electronic mag, mag archive back to 1923, & full reviews archive), I fancied redeeming it without delay!

One area of music that I have little knowledge of is the American string quartet.

I hear that George Rochberg is something of a pioneer in this repertoire.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

[Dave2002]

You can try out Rochberg SQs 3-6 on Apple Music - Concord String Quartet. If you have Apple Music, why not try that first.

I can't say that many memorable string quartets by American Composers come to mind.

George Crumb
Samuel Barber
Charles Ives
Harvey J Stokes

I don't think Bernstein wrote a quartet. Nothing listed - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...#Chamber_music

[Beef Oven!]

You can try out Rochberg SQs 3-6 on Apple Music - Concord String Quartet. If you have Apple Music, why not try that first.

I can't say that many memorable string quartets by American Composers come to mind.

George Crumb
Samuel Barber
Charles Ives
Harvey J Stokes

I don't think Bernstein wrote a quartet. Nothing listed - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...#Chamber_music

Thanks.

I'll have a listen on Apple Music to the Concord's recording, as you suggest. I'll check the others out too.

[Bryn]

You can try out Rochberg SQs 3-6 on Apple Music - Concord String Quartet. If you have Apple Music, why not try that first.

I can't say that many memorable string quartets by American Composers come to mind.

George Crumb
Samuel Barber
Charles Ives
Harvey J Stokes

I don't think Bernstein wrote a quartet. Nothing listed - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...#Chamber_music

Carter? (5 very fine String Quartets)
Feldman? (2 with the title String Quartet, + Structures and 3 Pieces from earlier in the canon.
Cage? Several works for string quartet, starting with the String Quartet in Four Parts.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Carter? (5 very fine String Quartets)
Feldman? (2 with the title String Quartet, + Structures and 3 Pieces from earlier in the canon.
Cage? Several works for string quartet, starting with the String Quartet in Four Parts.

Yes - I'd prefer any of these (and/or those by Babbitt) to the Rochbergs.

(Reich's Different Trains and Crumb's Black Angels, too - but I think BeefO already has those.)

Plenty of Rochberg S4tets on youTube to sample:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydNHmh1MJ8k (#2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ4o...J9VPkWK-akqz6I (#s 3 - 6)

[Beef Oven!]

Yes - I'd prefer any of these (and/or those by Babbitt) to the Rochbergs.

(Reich's Different Trains and Crumb's Black Angels, too - but I think BeefO already has those.)

Plenty of Rochberg S4tets on youTube to sample:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydNHmh1MJ8k (#2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ4o...J9VPkWK-akqz6I (#s 3 - 6)

Yes, I have the Black Angels, Different Trains, Feldman, Carter.

But no Rochberg, Barber, Ives or Stokes!

[ahinton]

Don't forget the two by Roger Sessions...

[Beef Oven!]

Don't forget the two by Roger Sessions...

Sessions is a real blind spot, for me.

[Bryn]

Then there's Robert Ashley's, "String Quartet Describing the Motions of Large Real Bodies", which is not for string quartet.

[Serial_Apologist]

Gunther Schuller's string quartet premiere. Phew! -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUfQO35IKDA

[teamsaint]

Gunther Schuller's string quartet premiere. Phew! -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUfQO35IKDA

great link, S-A. who needs the telly ?!

here are Schuller's own notes.

http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/work/49710

recommendations for other Schuller works, other than the 7 Studies on themes of Paul Klee are invited .

[richardfinegold]

Ruth Crawford Seeger (the mother of Pete Seeger)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Ruth Crawford Seeger

(the mother of Pete Seeger)

... his stepmother, to be accurate; but Ruth Crawford was the mother of Peggy (and, therefore, Ewan MacColl's mother-in-law ... and Kirsty MacColl's step-grandmother) and Mike Seeger.

And the first woman to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship ... and a superb composer: the String Quartet is definitely a must-hear piece:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qemDvtQXLYA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqz9Ch14Mpw

[PJPJ]

I've enjoyed Walter Piston's String Quartets.

There are three sets of 2xCD American SQs on Vox

http://www.amazon.com/The-Early-String-Quartet-U-S-A/dp/B000001K35

http://www.amazon.co.uk/American-String-Quartets-Kohon-Quartet/dp/B000001K3X

http://www.amazon.com/American-String-Quartets-1950-1970-Stefan/dp/B000001K50

[Suffolkcoastal]

The Piston Quartets are really excellent works. The great American Quartet cycle for me is Diamond's 10 quartets. William Schuman composed 5, though the 1st is unpublished, Roy Harris 3, Wallingford Riegger 3, Quincy Porter 9 (some are rather good), Peter Mennin 2, Randall Thompson 2, George W Chadwick 2 (2 of the better 19th century American quartets). That'll do for starters!