ROBERTO GERHARD (1896-1970): String Quartets Nos. 1 and 2, Chaconne for Solo Violin.

Description: Gerhard's two surviving quartets, heard here, are fully mature works, prefaced by several earlier attempts. Both display his lifelong preoccupation with the implications of Schoenbergian dodecaphony, though the later work also contains some striking sonoristic textures, alongside some clear references to Spanish folk idioms that the composer never altogether abandoned. Harmonically, the First is very close to Schoenberg, with serial techniques extended into the work's rhythmic structure as well. The large Chaconne is clearly related to its Baroque antecedents, though updated to the 20th century through being based on a twelve-note row, and in the light of modern violin techniques, post-Bartók. Arditti Quartet.