Polish String Quartets

This CD offers 5 dynamic and captivating contemporary works by three composers. The most recent work is Krszystof Penderecki's 'Der unterbrochene Gedanke' (The Interrupted Thought, 1988) is a brief but intensely concentrated piece of approximately 2 1/2 minutes duration in a simple slow-fast-slow scheme: a low sighing cello pulse is answered by a viola melody, a chromatic second violin figure, and a high harmonic in the first violin; suddenly the tempo becomes agitated, like a discomforting recollection expressed in a violent triple meter, then all activity is immediately ceased, 'interrupted' except for the initial low cello tone; then the other instruments answer with gentleness and a final chord dissipates in simultaneously ascending and descending glissandi. Spontaneously composed within a few days, Penderecki's seminal 'String Quartet No. 1' (1960) utilizes nearly all of the traditional string techniques together with many new ones invented by the composer (glissandi on trills, rapid non-rhythmic tremolo, playing an indefinite highest possible pitch and between bridge and tailpiece, strike strings with palm of hand, etc.). Intended to portray the international political unrest of that year, Penderecki's intense 'String Quartet No. 2' (1968) also employs a vast range of unusual techniques. Aleksander Lason's 20-minute 'String Quartet No. 2' (1987), built around the note C-sharp, is highly mellismatic and sensuous like folk fiddling. Grazyna Bacewicz demonstrates her neo-classical tendencies in the 'String Quartet No. 3' (1947) in three movements. Driving rhythms and passionate melodies characterize the first movement. A complex interweaving of graceful melodies is found in the second movement (Andante), and a playful abandon with unusual comic elements makes the third movement shine.