Roger Reynolds’ (b. 1943) music for string quartet partakes of just about every postmodern trick in the book without seeming derivative, though something of Schoenberg’s brooding temperament is present in nearly every work here. The booklet notes claim that much of Reynolds’ music is inspired by landscapes and other visual imagery, but in reality the music is neither programmatic nor is it in any way descriptive. Coconino…a shattered landscape (1993) works with fragmented assertions, trills, and flirtations as each instrument trades solo roles back and forth in clashing keys and broken meters. It’s a simple work and will remind the informed listener of Witold Lutoslawski or Henri Dutilleux. It’s also performed particularly well and sustains interest (if postmodernism is your thing).
Visions (1992) is another work based on a painting, but again, it’s composed mostly of clashing intervallic elements, with each instrument given a distinct, non-harmonic role. In Reynolds’ music no one instrument is subdued; it’s almost as if these works are written for four soloists, not a quartet. In fact, Kokoro (1993) and Focus a Beam… (1989) are for solo violin and solo cello respectively and share the same energetic character found in the works for the whole quartet. Only Ariadne’s Thread (1994) goes over the top with its computer-generated sounds and electronic amplification of the individual instruments. The fourth movement explodes with such grindingly intolerable shrillness that for some listeners the work will end there. It’s almost physically impossible to listen any further. But the rest of the CD is redeemed by the astute professionalism of the Arditti group and an otherwise excellent studio ambience.
