The title of James MacMillan’s String Quartet No. 2, “Why is this night different”, comes from the Seder, wherein the tale is retold of the Israelites’ flight from Egypt. MacMillan employs a highly pictorial musical language as the instruments behave more like characters than quartet members, particularly evident in the opening, where the first violin assumes the role of the singing storyteller. Tuireadh for clarinet and string quartet was composed as a memorial for the victims of the Piper Alpha oil rig disaster. MacMillan’s tense and often gut-wrenching music plainly communicates feelings of grief and anguish through the clarinet’s simulated shrieks (powerfully rendered by Robert Plane) and the strings’ weeping and wailing.
The 1988 String Quartet No. 1 “Visions of a November Spring” is the most austere work of this collection. It begins with unsettling, Corigliano-like “warped” string effects and then proceeds on a fascinating journey through agonized paroxysms and nervous Lutoslawski-style gesticulations before finally arriving at its shadowy close, where the strings create chillingly wraith-like sounds. The disc ends on a decidedly calmer note, with the brief, hymn-like Memento, for which the composer drew inspiration from the sound of Gaelic psalm-singing. All four works receive stunningly assured performances by the Emperor String Quartet, while BIS’s recording achieves maximum clarity and dynamic impact. A must for MacMillan fans. [8/17/2002]
