NYU First Performance presents
The Arditti String Quartet
Irvine Arditti, violin
Ashot Sarkissjan, violin
Ralf Ehlers, viola
Lucas Fels, cello
The
Arditti Quartet enjoys a worldwide reputation for their spirited and
technically refined interpretations of contemporary and earlier 20th
century music. Several hundred string quartets and other chamber works
have been written for the ensemble since its foundation by first
violinist Irvine Arditti in 1974.
These works have left a permanent mark on 20th century repertoire and
have given the Arditti Quartet a firm place in music history. World
premieres of quartets by composers such as Birtwistle,
Cage, Carter, Dillon, Ferneyhough, Gubaidulina, Harvey, Hosokawa,
Kagel, Kurtag, Lachenmann, Ligeti, Nancarrow, Reynolds, Rihm, Scelsi,
Stockhausen and Xenakis show the wide range of music in the Arditti
Quartet’s repertoire.
The ensemble believes that close collaboration with composers is vital
to the process of interpreting modern music and therefore attempts to
work with every composer it plays.
The players’ commitment to educational work is indicated by their
master classes and workshops for young performers and composers all
over the world. From 1982 to 1996 the quartet’s members were resident
string tutors at the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music.
The Arditti Quartet’s extensive discography now features well over 130
CDs. 42 discs have so far been released as part of the ensemble’s
continuing series on the French label Naïve Montaigne. The series
presents numerous contemporary composer features as well as the first
digital recordings of the complete Second Viennese School’s string
quartet music.
Stockhausen’s infamous Helicopter Quartet is to be found here. As well
as many composers’ portraits recorded in their presence, the complete
quartets of Luciano Berio were recorded shortly before his death. The
latest releases include Music by Cage, Fedele, Finsterer, Frith,
Ingolfsson, and Neuwirth.
Over the past 30 years, the ensemble has received many prizes for its
work. They have won the Deutsche Schallplatten Preis several times and
the Gramophone award for the best recording of contemporary music in
1999 (Elliott Carter) and 2002 (Harrison Birtwistle). The prestigious
Ernst von Siemens Music Prize was awarded to them in 1999 for ‘lifetime
achievement’ in music.
