Complete String Quartets

Complete String Quartets

Harrison Birtwistle is unquestionably one of the most frequently<br>performed British composers on the contemporary scene. Although<br>bowed strings are the raison d être of this disc, their absence is no<br>less conspicuous in the composer s early and mature works, for he<br>waited until he was nearly 60 before writing for string quartet, and the<br>works brought together here remain his only original works written<br>exclusively for strings. The recording of these works by the Arditti<br>Quartet, dedicatee of the String Quartet: The Tree of Strings (which was<br>composed for them) reflects the most recent development resulting<br>from Birtwistle s working with this ensemble over the past 20 years.