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JACK Quartet Performs the US Premiere of Julian Anderson's String Quartet No. 1

Jan. 24, 2014

JACK Quartet Performs the US Premiere of Julian Anderson's <em>String Quartet No. 1</em>

Following a successful tour of European performances, the JACK Quartet brings Julian Anderson’s String Quartet No. 1: ‘Light Music’ to the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. for the work’s first American performance. Composed between 1984 and 1985, Anderson’s string quartet was deemed fiercely difficult and unplayable by performers at the time. The work only recently received its world premiere in 2013 at the Aldeburgh Festival by the Arditti Quartet. The JACK Quartet’s program, which takes place on February 14, also features a performance of Thomas Adès’s Piano Quintet with pianist Ursula Oppens, as well as works by Feldman, Ferneyhough, and Carter.

Anderson gave the following remarks for the work’s belated premiere:

Light Music explores the colour of sound. The timbres, textures and harmonies evolve and transform in a manner analogous to filtering light through a glass prism. The piece uses a scale of graded steps from order to disorder… The emphasis on gradual change results in a work which has no breaks or caesuras. It proceeds from start to finish in a continuous chain of transformations.

Additionally, a new recording of Anderson’s orchestral music has recently been released, featuring performances by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and with whom Anderson is currently Composer-in-Residence. The album features recordings of The Crazed Moon, Fantasias, and The Discovery of Heaven. Of the record, Andrew Clark wrote for the Financial Times that “there can be no stronger proof of Anderson’s emergence as a figure of international stature” and the works “are among the most vivid soundscapes of the modern orchestral era.”  The recording is available on the London Philharmonic Orchestra label.

For more information on Julian Anderson, please visit www.fabermusic.com.

Details on the London Philharmonic Orchestra recording can be found at www.lpo.org.uk. 

Julian Anderson
String Quartet No. 1 'Light Music' (1984-1985)
7' 

The Crazed Moon (1997)
for orchestra
3(2.pic, 3.afl).3(3.ca).3(3.bcl).3(3.cbsn)-4.3.3.1-timp.2perc-hp-str
13’

Fantasias (2009)
for orchestra
4(3.4.pic, 4.pic detuned ¼ tone).3(3.ca).3(2.cl detuned ¼ tone, 3.Eb cl.bcl).3(3.cbsn)-4.tp in D (Bb pic tp).3 in C(2.tp detuned ¼ tone).3.1-4perc-hp-pno(cel)-synth(pno sound; detuned ¼ tone)-str
23'
 
The Discovery of Heaven (2011)
for orchestra
3(3.pic, afl).3(3.ca).3(2.ebcl, 3.bcl).3(3.cbsn)-4.3(1&2.flugelhn, 3.tpt in D).3.1-timp-4perc-hp.pno–str
22’

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