Mivos Quartet – Steve Reich: The String Quartets (2023) [FLAC 24bit/48kHz]

Mivos Quartet – Steve Reich: The String Quartets (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 57:24 minutes | 653 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

Between 1988 and 2010, Steve Reich composed three string quartets – ‘Different Trains’, ‘Triple Quartet’ and ‘WTC 9/11’. Deutsche Grammophon now presents this trilogy of works for the first time on one album, in definitive new recordings from the Mivos Quartet. Hailed by The Chicago Reader as “one of America’s most daring and ferocious new-music ensembles”, the Mivos players developed their interpretations of the three quartets – inspired by the music of speech, echoes of Bartók and the events of a day transformed by terror – in close collaboration with the composer. Reich himself supported the project from inception to completion, answering the group’s questions about fine musical details, offering advice on matters of style and endorsing the finished album. ‘Steve Reich: The String Quartets’, featuring notes by veteran radio host and music writer John Schaefer, is set for release digitally, on CD and on vinyl (2 LPs) on 3 February 2023.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

Tracklist:

1-1. Mivos Quartet – I. 9/11/01 (03:38)
1-2. Mivos Quartet – II. 2010 (Pt. 1) (00:51)
1-3. Mivos Quartet – II. 2010 (Pt. 2) (05:14)
1-4. Mivos Quartet – II. 2010 (Pt. 3) (01:20)
1-5. Mivos Quartet – III. WTC (04:37)
1-6. Mivos Quartet – I. (Pt. 1) (02:40)
1-7. Mivos Quartet – I. (Pt. 2) (02:23)
1-8. Mivos Quartet – I. (Pt. 3) (02:05)
1-9. Mivos Quartet – II. (04:04)
1-10. Mivos Quartet – III. (03:31)
1-11. Mivos Quartet – I. America – Before the War (Pt. 1) (06:22)
1-12. Mivos Quartet – I. America – Before the War (Pt. 2) (02:36)
1-13. Mivos Quartet – II. Europe – During the War (Pt. 1) (02:20)
1-14. Mivos Quartet – II. Europe – During the War (Pt. 2) (04:09)
1-15. Mivos Quartet – II. Europe – During the War (Pt. 3) (01:01)
1-16. Mivos Quartet – III. After the War (Pt. 1) (04:45)
1-17. Mivos Quartet – III. After the War (Pt. 2) (02:33)
1-18. Mivos Quartet – III. After the War (Pt. 3) (03:05)

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