Word: quartetting
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...since Geffen Records in the early 1980s has a record label so dominated the industry. This year five of Interscope's albums have hit the Top 10, including the bland pop-rock act the Wallflowers, smooth R.-and-B. quartet Blackstreet, and shock rocker Marilyn Manson. "They keep things lean and focused," says Geoff Mayfield, charts editor of Billboard magazine. "They don't have a ton of acts, but they have a very high batting average with the ones they...
...result, the overall texture was very homogeneous, the colors of the orchestra were used sparingly. Rarely were the other choirs treated independently. Even the quartet itself was overly consistent in its color: passionate lines in the upper register nearly dominated the work. Clearly this was necessary in order to isolate the quartet from the orchestral strings. Yet the contrasting colors of pizzicato, double stops, trills, tremolos, sul ponticello or sul tasto bowings, if present, were far too subtle to stand...
Yannatos' treatment of melody seemed stratified between two extremes: the endless, flowing melodies of the quartet and strings, and the terse melodic fragments delivered by the remainder of the ensemble, particularly the glockenspiel and the brass. The program notes describe the use of a principal theme and motives from both Bach chorales and Beethoven Quartets op. 135 and 74. However, these melodic fragments, regardless of their origin, sounded only as quotes, isolated from the dominant texture. What was lacking was any real sense of interaction between these two melodic worlds. The program describes the principal theme as being part...
...passages for the quartet alone were interesting and well executed--for example, the introduction of the quartet through staggered entrances, often with some degree of imitation. Both the quality of the writing and the superb performance of the Mendelssohn String Quartet contributed to the excellent rendering of the polyphony. The upper-register work of the 'cello in the first movement and the brief 'cello solo of the second movement were both particularly remarkable. This solo leads into an extended passage for the quartet alone, a cadenza of sorts, featuring some of the most demanding parts of the work. The arrival...
...interaction between the orchestra and the quartet, however, too often failed to achieve the kind of dialogue expected of a concerto. Certainly this expectation can be abandoned. Yet even without it, the piece was often too homogeneous, the sense of forward motion and development too difficult to discern...