Like much tonally oriented music of the mid-twentieth century, the works of Dutch composer Lex van Delden were eclipsed by the more publicized serial movement (also known as the "International" style, though it was not universally embraced.) Yet with the passage of time, critical and popular tastes have dramatically changed and minds have sufficiently opened to allow these pieces to emerge from their undeserved obscurity; listeners looking for intelligent, accessible chamber music that is still bracingly modern may find van ...
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Like much tonally oriented music of the mid-twentieth century, the works of Dutch composer Lex van Delden were eclipsed by the more publicized serial movement (also known as the "International" style, though it was not universally embraced.) Yet with the passage of time, critical and popular tastes have dramatically changed and minds have sufficiently opened to allow these pieces to emerge from their undeserved obscurity; listeners looking for intelligent, accessible chamber music that is still bracingly modern may find van Delden's complete music for string quartet to be an important discovery. In a broad sense, this music shows the influences of the early modernists: almost all of van Delden's mature work reveals a deep respect for Bartók, though it occasionally exhibits some ideas from Stravinsky. The three String Quartets (1954, 1965, and 1979) and the Musica de Catasto: Intrada e Passacaglia, Op. 108 (1981), are practically derived from Bartók's great cycle of six string quartets, and the most...
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