Quartets: One-Four [Deluxe CD] (2022)

Composer and cellist Peter Gregson has composed film music and released thematic albums in a post-minimalist vein. Here, he takes on the string quartet in an album with a unique structure. The numbered Quartets of the album are groups of from three to six short pieces for string quartet, some of them with the inclusion of Gregson's own synthesizer; one of these, the Philip Glass-like Sequence (Four), has gone viral to a degree. Among albums of this type, the structure of this album is unique. Quartets (One) and Quartets ... Read More

Composer and cellist Peter Gregson has composed film music and released thematic albums in a post-minimalist vein. Here, he takes on the string quartet in an album with a unique structure. The numbered Quartets of the album are groups of from three to six short pieces for string quartet, some of them with the inclusion of Gregson's own synthesizer; one of these, the Philip Glass-like Sequence (Four), has gone viral to a degree. Among albums of this type, the structure of this album is unique. Quartets (One) and Quartets (Two) were recorded in 2016 and released the following year; Gregson was sidetracked by other commitments but never gave up on the idea of a "quartet of quartets" and returned to it in 2022 with many of the same musicians, adding two more quartets. These are of a piece with the first two sets but add new ideas; the fourth quartet consists of three movements called "Three Parallels." These are markedly less diatonic than the earlier pieces and have a similarity of structure that the other sets avoid. As a whole, the quartets merge influences from Glass with Gregson's experience in film music, with attractive results; a piece like the opening "Primary Colours" has an almost synaesthetic effect. Those curious about where minimalism is going as its founding giants age are urged to check out Gregson's work here. ~ James Manheim, Rovi Read Less

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2022, Deutsche Grammophon UPC: 028948632985 CD See All from $30.99