Steve Reich: The String Quartets

Mivos Quartet

Released on 03/02/2023 by Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
Main artists: Mivos Quartet
Genre: Classical

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For the first time, lovers of Steve Reich will be able to hear his three string quartets all on one disc, by the same performers. Let’s be clear: neither Different Trains nor even Triple Quartet, strictly speaking, are string quartets (at least in the canonical sense of the form). The first two works are enhanced by the addition of sampled interviews, played off magnetic tape. As for the third, it can be performed (depending on artistic choices, and financial constraints) either by three quartets, or one quartet accompanied by two pre-recorded quartets.

According to Reich himself, the three works, assembled in a single programme, represent a snapshot of what was creatively possible between the 1980s and 2000s - a period which preceded the democratization of software and loop-stations facilitating multi-track recording. In short, it sought to introduce a contemporary, expanded version of the string quartet into the repertoire. After working with the Kronos Quartet, the Ensemble Modern and the Ensemble Contemporain, the godfather of minimalist music has enlisted the Mivos Quartet as the newest wonderful ambassadors for his music. Their meeting was very auspicious indeed - the violinist Olivia de Prato is also a member of the Ensemble Signal, which already had the composer’s full confidence. That was all it took to get this ‘complete work’ underway.

Different Trains (1988) and WTC 9/11 (2010) both deal with events in contemporary history, with each piece using documentary recordings as sound material. In Different Trains, Reich connects memories of his childhood with those of the Holocaust: a comparison between the many train journeys he made between the homes of his two divorced parents during the 1940s, and the far more sordid journeys that awaited the Jewish populations of Europe. WTC 9/11 echoes the terrorist attacks of 11th September 2001, which Reich and his wife experienced through phone calls with their son, who was only a few blocks away from the twin towers. Triple Quartet (1998), inspired by Bartok’s Fourth String Quartet, was commissioned by the Kronos Quartet offers the illusion of a triple quartet with the addition of magnetic tape.

The Mivos’ sharp, nervous playing is ever appropriate for the heart-rending theme of WTC 9/11. Rhythmic treatment in Different Trains is almost totally fused with that of the tape, which creates a starkly neutral quality: the idea is to play ‘with’ the samples, rather than against them. The Quartet offers up a real treat here, and it is a great pleasure to get an updated rendition that is still faithful to the spirit of Steve Reich - an interpretation which certainly holds up against those of its great predecessors (Kronos, London Steve Reich, Ensemble Smith)… © Pierre Lamy/Qobuz

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Steve Reich: The String Quartets

Mivos Quartet

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WTC 9/11 (Steve Reich)

I. 9/11/01