RATE IT

Your rating: None Average: 2.5 (15 votes)

ARTISTS

Arditti Quartet, String Quartet
The Arditti Quartet enjoys a world-wide reputation for its spirited and technically refined interpretations of contemporary and earlier twentieth-century music: several hundred string quartets and other chamber works have been written for the ensemble since its foundation by first violinist Irvine Arditti in 1974, many of which have earned a permanent place in the repertoire. World premieres of quartets by composers including Birtwistle, Cage, Carter, Dillon, Ferneyhough, Harvey, Kagel, Kurtag, Lachenmann, Ligeti, Nancarrow, Rihm, Scelsi, Stockhausen and Xenakis show the wide range of music in the Quartet’s repertoire.
 
The ensemble believes that close collaboration with composers is vital to the process of interpreting modern music, and attempts to work with each composer whose music it performs; the players’ commitment to educational work is reflected in master-classes and workshops for young performers and composers given all over the world.
 
The Quartet’s extensive discography now features over 150 discs, forty-two of which have been released as part of its continuing series on the French label Naïve Montaigne. Over the past 25 years, the Quartet has received many prizes for its work, including the Deutsche Schallplatten Preis (several times) and the Gramophone Award for the best recording of contemporary music (twice). The prestigious Ernst von Siemens Music Prize was awarded to the Quartet in 1999 for ‘lifetime achievement’ in music.
 
Irvine Arditti, Violin
In addition to his phenomenal career as first violinist of the Arditti Quartet, Irvine Arditti continues to excel as an extraordinary soloist. Born in London in 1953, he began his studies at the Royal Academy of Music at the age of 16. He joined the London Symphony Orchestra in 1976 and after two years, at the age of 25, became its Co-Concert Master. He left the orchestra in 1980 in order to devote more time to the Arditti Quartet, which he had formed while still a student.
During the past decade Irvine Arditti has given world premières of numerous large scale works written for him: these include Xenakis’ Dox Orkh and Hosokawa’s Landscape III, both for violin and orchestra, as well as Ferneyhough’s Terrain, Francesconi’s Riti Neurali, Dillon’s Vernal Showers and Harvey’s Scena, all for violin and ensemble. He has appeared with many distinguished orchestras and ensembles, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre National de Paris,  Asko Ensemble, Nieuw Ensemble and the London Sinfonietta.
Hiroaki Takenouchi, Piano

Get Adobe Flash player

Tracks

Disc 1
1
3'
19"
2
10'
06"
3
4'
18"
4
1'
37"
5
2'
53"
6
2'
12"
7
2'
41"
8
0'
47"
9
3'
56"
10
1'
14"
11
2'
43"
12
1'
41"
13
1'
44"
14
2'
31"
15
20'
05"
16
13'
25"
  • CD
    £12.99
  • MP3 DOWNLOAD
    £7.99
  • FLAC
    £8.99
BUY

COMPOSER:

James DILLON

DESCRIPTION

Following her acclaimed recording of Dillon's Book of Elements, Noriko Kawai returns to NMC - joined by Irvine Arditti and the Arditti Quartet, in their first recording for NMC. This disc spans Dillon's career - from early piano caprice Dillug-Kefitsah, and the phantasmagorical sequence Traumwerk, for violin and piano, to brooding piano duo black/ nebulae - with pianist Hiroaki Takenouchi - and piano quintet the soadie waste, which takes its name from a dilapidated Glaswegian dance hall on the site of a former chemical-works; it was said that during 'hot' dance sessions the locals could detect chemical seepage.

Irvine Arditti, violin
Noriko Kawai, piano
Arditti Quartet
Hiroaki Takenouchi, piano

REVIEWS

'An arresting survey of a composer noted for the cerebral and visceral ... a bracing and engaging experience' Gramophone

'NMC has become a reliable champion of James Dillon's remarkable music, and its third collection devoted to him is not only the most impressive so far, but also marks the belated debut of the Arditti Quartet on the label. Written for that group with the pianist Noriko Kawai, The Soadie Waste from 2003 is archetypal Dillon, a work grounded in the composer's experiences of growing up on the outskirts of Glasgow in the 1960s ... which uses his dense, complex musical language to communicate great physical power, exuberance and immediacy... Dillon's instrumental writing takes no prisoners, but the playing of Kawai and the Ardittis in all these works is remarkable too; no composer could hope for better.' Guardian

PUBLISHING DETAILS

James Dillon’s music is published by Edition Peters.

RECORDING CREDITS

This disc was recorded at Potton Hall, Suffolk: Traumwerk, Del Cuarto Elemento and Dillug-Kefitsah were recorded on 28-29 June 2007, black/ nebulae on 7 July 2007, and the soadie waste on 27 July 2007.

Engineer: PETER NEWBLE
Producer: JEREMY HAYES
Editor: RACHEL SMITH
Executive Producer: COLIN MATTHEWS

Design: FRANCOIS HALL

(P) 2008 NMC Recordings Ltd.

Catalogue number:
NMC D131
Release Date:
3 March 2008