string quartets

been listening to philip glass' kronos quartet album over and over. i strongly recommend you get it!

string quartets in general are such beautiful music anyway. it's something about the simple, natural yet very emotional and complex harmonies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gztwmt3vaF0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9bK33HM9ns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE1mCjPrH6o...feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvyqL0vdyzs...feature=related

this one is my favourite:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZkIeyRdtL8...feature=related

kronos themselves are kicking too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_G-ZyUolZQ...feature=related

Ravel - String Quartet in F. Positively sublime.

I could only find a LastFM sample, but Kronos did an amazing arrangement of 'El Sinaloense' that I cannot get enough of. In fact, I would recommend everyone go out and blindly purchase the 'Nuevo' album that contains said track because I can assure you that you will not be displeased.

Also, though they aren't spectacular, John Zorn's quartets are pretty fascinating. He did a 13 minute composition for quartet called 'Cat O' Nine-Tails' that features a lot of goofy non-sequiturs and a neat part where the quartet recreates the act of a whimpering creature being flogged by the titular item.

Gyorgy Ligeti's second string quartet is highly imaginative. It's incredibly abstract - as far as music goes - and is very focused on complex tonal colourings and pretty much disregards rhythm and melody. Challenging stuff to listen to. Especially without the score.

I actually just completed writing a small quartet. I'm pretty unhappy with the mix so I'm reluctant to post it. However, if anyone is interested you can PM me and I'll email you a copy.

*Nudge*

c'mon, post it already!