Arditti Quartet
Celebrating its 50th Anniversary in 2024!
“...consummate, extraordinary mastery.”
- The Guardian
︎Manu Theobald
"An evening with the Arditti Quartet puts your inner compass in a powerful spin. Expect the unexpected with a quartet which so often strays far from the beaten track.” - Hamburger Abendblatt
"An evening with the Arditti Quartet puts your inner compass in a powerful spin. Expect the unexpected with a quartet which so often strays far from the beaten track.” - Hamburger Abendblatt
The Arditti Quartet enjoys a global
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 the genre itself, and have given the Arditti Quartet a firm place
in music history.
The
quartet celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2024.
Such composers as Adès, Aperghis, Birtwistle, Cage, Carter, Dufourt, Dusapin, Fedele, Ferneyhough, Francesconi, Gubaidulina, Harvey, Hosokawa, Kagel, Kurtág, Lachenmann, Ligeti, Nancarrow, Rihm, Scelsi, Sciarrino and Stockhausen have entrusted the world premieres of their music to them, and the quartet’s repertoire comprises all of the string quartets of many of the above composers and others.
The ensemble believes that close collaboration with composers is vital to the process of interpreting modern music and therefore attempts to collaborate with every composer whose works it plays. Teaching for many years at the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music among others, the players have given numerous master classes and workshops for young performers and composers all over the world.
The Arditti Quartet’s extensive discography now features well over 200 CDs.
42 discs have so far been released as part of the ensemble’s continuing series on the French label Naïve Montaigne alone. The series presents numerous contemporary composer features as well as the first digital recordings of the complete Second Viennese School’s string quartet music. The quartet is renowned for recording many composers’ works in their presence, including the complete quartets of Luciano Berio shortly before his death. Legendary episodes in recent music history have also been immortalised on CD, such as Stockhausen’s spectacular Helicopter Quartet.
42 discs have so far been released as part of the ensemble’s continuing series on the French label Naïve Montaigne alone. The series presents numerous contemporary composer features as well as the first digital recordings of the complete Second Viennese School’s string quartet music. The quartet is renowned for recording many composers’ works in their presence, including the complete quartets of Luciano Berio shortly before his death. Legendary episodes in recent music history have also been immortalised on CD, such as Stockhausen’s spectacular Helicopter Quartet.
Over the past five decades, the ensemble has
received many prizes for its work. It has won the Deutscher Schallplatten Preis
several times and the Gramophone Award for the best recording of contemporary
music in 1999 (Elliott Carter), 2002 (Harrison Birtwistle) and 2018 (Pascal
Dusapin).
The prestigious Ernst von Siemens Music Prize was awarded to them in 1999 for lifetime achievement in music, setting the quartet on a par with other winners such as Berio, Britten, Carter, Ferneyhough, Lachenmann, Ligeti and Rihm.
The prestigious Ernst von Siemens Music Prize was awarded to them in 1999 for lifetime achievement in music, setting the quartet on a par with other winners such as Berio, Britten, Carter, Ferneyhough, Lachenmann, Ligeti and Rihm.
︎ Alexandre Delmar
Media:
︎ Harrison Birtwistle, Tree of Strings
︎ Elliot Carter, String Quartet Nr. 5
︎ Olga Neuwirth, In the Realms of the Unreal
︎ Helmut Lachenmann, Tanzlied mit Deutschlandlied for string quartet and orchestra
(with Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música and Peter Rundel)
︎ artist website
︎ Harrison Birtwistle, Tree of Strings
︎ Elliot Carter, String Quartet Nr. 5
︎ Olga Neuwirth, In the Realms of the Unreal
︎ Helmut Lachenmann, Tanzlied mit Deutschlandlied for string quartet and orchestra
(with Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música and Peter Rundel)
︎ artist website
New quartet works, 2020-23:
Nina Šenk, To see a World in a Grain of Sand
Clara Maïda, ...das spinnt... for amplified string quartet
Dániel Péter Biró, String Quartet No. 2 Lishkoach Velizkor (To Forget and to Remember)
Betsy Jolas, Quatuor VIIITopeng
Toshio Hosokawa, Passage
Christian Mason, The present moment used to be the unimaginable future
James Clarke, String Quartet No. 5
James Clarke, String Quartet No.6
Tansy Davies, Nightingale: Ultra Deep Sound
Jannik Giger, Oeil
Michael Pelzel, Scintille dans la Lumière
Stylianos Dimou, en tranche
Nina Šenk, To see a World in a Grain of Sand
Clara Maïda, ...das spinnt... for amplified string quartet
Dániel Péter Biró, String Quartet No. 2 Lishkoach Velizkor (To Forget and to Remember)
Betsy Jolas, Quatuor VIIITopeng
Toshio Hosokawa, Passage
Christian Mason, The present moment used to be the unimaginable future
James Clarke, String Quartet No. 5
James Clarke, String Quartet No.6
Tansy Davies, Nightingale: Ultra Deep Sound
Jannik Giger, Oeil
Michael Pelzel, Scintille dans la Lumière
Stylianos Dimou, en tranche
Arditti Quartet performs complete works for string quartet by:
Eliott Carter
Pascal Dusapin
Jonathan Harvey
Toshio Hosokawa
Helmut Lachenmann
György Ligeti
Conlon Nancarrow
Wolfgang Rihm
Iannis Xenakis
Georg Friedrich Haas
Harrison Birtwistle
︎ Repertoire Catalogue
Eliott Carter
Pascal Dusapin
Jonathan Harvey
Toshio Hosokawa
Helmut Lachenmann
György Ligeti
Conlon Nancarrow
Wolfgang Rihm
Iannis Xenakis
Georg Friedrich Haas
Harrison Birtwistle
︎ Repertoire Catalogue
Works for quartet and orchestra:
James Dillon, The Gates
Pascal Dusapin, Streichquartett Nr. 6 "Hinterland"
Morton Feldman, String Quartet and Orchestra
Helmut Lachenmann, Tanzsuite mit Deutschlandlied
Philippe Manoury, Melencolia-Figuren
(exists also as String Quartet Nr. 3 "Melencolia")
Wolfgang Rihm, Dithyrambe for string quartet and orchestra
Johannes Maria Staud, Über trügerische Stadtpläne und die Versuchungen der Winternächte (Dichotomie 2)
James Dillon, The Gates
Pascal Dusapin, Streichquartett Nr. 6 "Hinterland"
Morton Feldman, String Quartet and Orchestra
Helmut Lachenmann, Tanzsuite mit Deutschlandlied
Philippe Manoury, Melencolia-Figuren
(exists also as String Quartet Nr. 3 "Melencolia")
Wolfgang Rihm, Dithyrambe for string quartet and orchestra
Johannes Maria Staud, Über trügerische Stadtpläne und die Versuchungen der Winternächte (Dichotomie 2)
Arditti Quartet & Jake Arditti (countertenor)
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Sample programmes for quartet + countertenor
James Dillon: String Quartet Nr. 9
Hilda Paredes: Tres Canciones Lunáticas(+countertenor)
Hans Werner Henze: String Quartet Nr. 5
Salvatore Sciarrino: Cosa resta (+ countertenor)
Hilda Paredes: Tres canciones lunáticas»
Jannik Giger: Œil (World Premiere 2021)
Salvatore Sciarrino: Cosa resta
Hans Werner Henze: String Quartet Nr. 5
“The sanity of lunacy”:
Wolfgang Rihm: String Quartet Nr. 13
Salvatore Sciarrino: Cosa Resta
Pascal Dusapin: String Quartet Nr. 5
Hilda Paredes: Tres Canciones Lunáticas
︎ Andy Staples
Sample programmes for quartet + countertenor
James Dillon: String Quartet Nr. 9
Hilda Paredes: Tres Canciones Lunáticas(+countertenor)
Hans Werner Henze: String Quartet Nr. 5
Salvatore Sciarrino: Cosa resta (+ countertenor)
Hilda Paredes: Tres canciones lunáticas»
Jannik Giger: Œil (World Premiere 2021)
Salvatore Sciarrino: Cosa resta
Hans Werner Henze: String Quartet Nr. 5
“The sanity of lunacy”:
Wolfgang Rihm: String Quartet Nr. 13
Salvatore Sciarrino: Cosa Resta
Pascal Dusapin: String Quartet Nr. 5
Hilda Paredes: Tres Canciones Lunáticas