Ligeti: String Quartet No. 1 'Métamorphoses nocturnes', etc.

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…in the sequence of short movements of the Bartók-inspired First Quartet, their impetuosity matches the quicksilver reverses of mood and texture, and the slower music isn't short-changed. The... — BBC Music Magazine, December 2005, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 3rd Oct 2005
Catalogue No: 3369342
Label: Erato
Length: 42 minutes

Ligeti: String Quartet No. 1 'Métamorphoses nocturnes'

Work length22:05

$15.60

$20.40

Artemis Quartet (string quartet)
Recorded: 1999-11-05
Recording Venue: 19-21 October & 2-5 November 1999. Funkhaus Wallrefplatz, Klaus von Bismarck-Saal, Köln.

Allegro grazioso

Track length1:34

$1.30

$1.70

Vivace, capriccioso

Track length2:01

$1.30

$1.70

Adagio mesto

Track length2:27

$1.30

$1.70

Presto

Track length1:12

$1.30

$1.70

Prestissimo

Track length1:40

$1.30

$1.70

Andante tranquillo

Track length3:06

$1.30

$1.70

Tempo di Valse, moderato con eleganza, un poco capriccioso

Track length0:57

$1.30

$1.70

Subito prestissimo

Track length1:30

$1.30

$1.70

Allegretto, un poco gioviale

Track length2:48

$1.30

$1.70

Prestissimo

Track length1:43

$1.30

$1.70

Ad libitum, senza misura

Track length1:45

$1.30

$1.70

Lento

Track length1:22

$1.30

$1.70

Ligeti: String Quartet No. 2

Work length20:48

$6.50

$8.50

Artemis Quartet
Recorded: 1999-11-05
Recording Venue: 19-21 October & 2-5 November 1999. Funkhaus Wallrefplatz, Klaus von Bismarck-Saal, Köln.

Allegro nevoso

Track length5:00

$1.30

$1.70

Sostenuto, molto calmo

Track length4:53

$1.30

$1.70

Come un meccanismo di precisione

Track length3:33

$1.30

$1.70

Presto furioso, brutale, tumultuoso

Track length2:07

$1.30

$1.70

Allegro con delicatezza

Track length5:15

$1.30

$1.70

Reviews
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Reviews

December 2005

…in the sequence of short movements of the Bartók-inspired First Quartet, their impetuosity matches the quicksilver reverses of mood and texture, and the slower music isn't short-changed. The modernist Second Quartet… allows more detail to come through, and shows their total command of all Ligeti's demands for technical and dynamic extremes.

2010

Few string quartets of the late 20th century are as often performed as these, and it was only a matter of time before one of the up-and-coming younger ensembles took up the challenge thrown down by the Arditti Quartet in their recent rerecording of both pieces for Sony (their earlier reading on Wergo dates from the late 1970s).
The First Quartet, Métamorphoses nocturnes, dates from Ligeti's Hungarian period, and the evident debt to Bartók notwithstanding, his approach to mass and textural transformation is recognisable to anyone familiar with his later music. To their credit, the Artemis let the music breathe, and make much of Ligeti's impish humour: both works are theatrical and benefit from being 'played up', which the Artemis do perhaps more freely than the Ardittis.
The Artemis are miked closely, but the sound still allows for some beautifully differentiated, 'atmospheric' timbres (like the 'organ-stops' of bar 71, first movement). There's also a more palpable sense of immediacy, and a more riotous climax in the most abrupt passages (the ferocissimo fourth movement, most obviously). The Artemis offer a sufficiently different view from the Ardittis to make for an unmissable alternative.
First-time buyers need not hesitate.

Ligeti: String Quartet No. 1 'Métamorphoses nocturnes', etc.

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