String Quartets 1 - 4

Recommended in the recent book "1001 Classical Recordings You Must Hear Before You Die".

The Arditti Quartet is an internationally acclaimed string quartet founded in 1974.

"The Arditti may set new standards for technical excellence in these performances."
FM Keynote

"where Carter with his dense textures and concentrated argument can so easily seem lovelessly intellectual and nothing more, the Arditti performances of all four quartets immediately convey a musical experience that can be appreciated even by the unprepared listener."
The Guardian(Top Four Records of the Year 1989)

"That drama of confrontation is even more strongly brought out in the Quartet No. 3 (1971), a staggering score whose teeming invention is so tautly controlled that one hardly dares take a breath throughout its 20-minute span . . . That genius is done glorious justice by the Arditti Quartet's astonishingly assured performances, vividly recorded."
Gramophone

IRCA (USA); Prix de l'Academie Charles Cros
KTC 2507 has been noted as a BBC Music Magazine Benchmark Recording for this repertoire

The Arditti Quartet enjoys a world-wide reputation for their spirited and technically refined interpretations of contemporary and earlier 20th 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. These works have left a permanent mark on 20th century repertoire and have given the Arditti Quartet a firm place in music history. World premieres of quartets by composers such as Birtwistle, Cage, Carter, Dillon, Ferneyhough, Gubaidulina, Harvey, Hosokawa, Kagel, Kurtag, Lachenmann, Nancarrow, Reynolds, Rihm, Scelsi, Stockhausen and Xenakis show the wide range of music in the Arditti Quartets repertoire.

The ensemble believes that close collaboration with composers is vital to the process of interpreting modern music and therefore attempts to work with every composer it plays.The players commitment to educational work is indicated by their masterclasses and workshops for young performers and composers all over the world. From 1982 to 1996 the quartets members were resident string tutors at the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music.