I have been aware of DM's music for quite a few years now and have all but one (4th) of his symphonies in my CD collection. Thus far, his music has never really taken off with me, but I always come back to him, I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's because he works in the traditional formats that I value so highly myself; symphonies, string quartets, trios and solo violin and piano.
The contradictory thing is that I must criticise him for not choosing to write for more varied mediums and sticking with the traditional symphony orchestra and string quartet and traditional formats (symphony/string quartet). A distinct lack of imagination on his part, I would say and rather conservative in outlook. For me, there is no exciting discovery in listening to his music.
Today I had a bit of a turning point. Over the last few months, I have been listening to his three piano trios that I bought as Hi-Res downloads a while back, and I fancied picking up on his string quartets. ahinton of this parish (the dedicatee of Piano Trio #3) steered me towards quartets 5 & 6 as a good starting point. Having downloaded them and listened to them through this afternoon I was astounded as to how good they are. It is not a distortion to say that they are worthy descendants of the string quartets of Béla Bartók and Shostakovich. I do not say this lightly.
DM divides opinion on this forum, and I know that I personally struggle to work out whether or not I personally value his music, hitherto always preferring his younger brother's music (Colin 'Pluto' Matthews). But those piano trios and string quartets 5 & 6 may have finally tipped the balance for me. Maybe for me now, he will no longer be David 'Interesting' Matthews, but David 'Vital' Matthews!
String Quartet #5 Kreutzer Quartet
The contradictory thing is that I must criticise him for not choosing to write for more varied mediums and sticking with the traditional symphony orchestra and string quartet and traditional formats (symphony/string quartet). A distinct lack of imagination on his part, I would say and rather conservative in outlook. For me, there is no exciting discovery in listening to his music.
Today I had a bit of a turning point. Over the last few months, I have been listening to his three piano trios that I bought as Hi-Res downloads a while back, and I fancied picking up on his string quartets. ahinton of this parish (the dedicatee of Piano Trio #3) steered me towards quartets 5 & 6 as a good starting point. Having downloaded them and listened to them through this afternoon I was astounded as to how good they are. It is not a distortion to say that they are worthy descendants of the string quartets of Béla Bartók and Shostakovich. I do not say this lightly.
DM divides opinion on this forum, and I know that I personally struggle to work out whether or not I personally value his music, hitherto always preferring his younger brother's music (Colin 'Pluto' Matthews). But those piano trios and string quartets 5 & 6 may have finally tipped the balance for me. Maybe for me now, he will no longer be David 'Interesting' Matthews, but David 'Vital' Matthews!
String Quartet #5 Kreutzer Quartet
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