The Dublin Guitar Quartet is an Irish guitar quartet that specialises in the performance of contemporary classical music, particularly music associated with

minimalist In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...

composers such as

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, a ...

Arvo Pärt Arvo Pärt (; born 11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of contemporary classical music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs tintinnabuli, a compositional technique he invented. Pärt's music is in pa ...

and

Kevin Volans Kevin Volans (born 26 July 1949) is a South African born Irish composer and pianist. He studied with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Mauricio Kagel in Cologne in the 1970s and later became associated with the ''Neue Einfacheit'' (New Simplicity) mov ...

. The bulk of their repertoire consists of their own transcriptions of works by these composers. They have also transcribed and performed works by

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century" ...

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

and

Michael Nyman Michael Laurence Nyman, Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, libretto, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film soundtrack, scores (many written during his length ...

History

The group formed in 2001 while founder members Brian Bolger, Patrick Brunnock, David Flynn and

Redmond O'Toole Redmond O'Toole is an Irish classical guitarist who performs on a Brahms guitar. His former teachers include Oscar Ghiglia, Paul Galbraith, Graham Devine and John Feeley. He studied at the Dublin Institute of Technology and the Accademia Musi ...

were all studying at the Dublin Conservatory of Music and Drama. This line-up avoided standard classical guitar repertoire in favour of their own arrangements of important international composers. Their first batch of arrangements included David Flynn's arrangements of String Quartet No.2 ''Company'' and String Quartet No.3 ''Mishima'' by

and ''Summa'' by

and Brian Bolger's arrangements of String Quartet No.1 ''White Man Sleeps'' by

and ''Soundscapes over Landscapes'' by The Redneck Manifesto. The quartet's first performance was as support to the Redneck Manifesto in Whelans of Wexford Street in Dublin on 26 January 2002.

Transcriptions

;Philip Glass Dublin Guitar Quartet with Philip Glass

The Dublin Guitar Quartet have transcribed, performed and recorded string quartets No.2 to No.5 by the celebrated American composer

. B In January 2011 the quartet recorded a performance film which was directed by Gareth Averill and Piers McGrail. This film included a performance of String Quartet No. 3 ''Mishima''. In May 2014 the quartet released an album of these arrangements on the composer's own labe
Orange Mountain Music.
In 2008 the quartet performed with Philip Glass in Louth Contemporary Music Society concert. This included a solo performance by Philip Glass of his Etudes. The concert took place on 17 July 2008 at 8pm in St. Patrick's, Dundalk. The Dublin Guitar Quartet performed arrangements of Glass's string quartets ''Mishima'' (movements III, IV, V) and ''Company''. They were given an introduction by the composer: “This is a very special arrangement. Arranging for guitars is a very tricky business and you really have to know what you are doing, so i have never done it, but Dave Flynn and Brian Bolger ublin Guitar Quartethave made these arrangements and they're really quite beautiful."—Philip Glass ;Arvo Pärt ''Summa'' is an original composition for choir by Estonian composer

. The DGQ transcription was released by the composer's publisher

Universal Edition Universal Edition (UE) is a classical music publishing firm. Founded in 1901 in Vienna, they originally intended to provide the core classical works and educational works to the Austrian market (which had until then been dominated by Leipzig-base ...

. The quartet received input on from the composer while making a recording for Irish contemporary music presenter Louth Contemporary Music Society (LCMS). Summa is included in the quartet's 2011 performance film. ;Kevin Volans An early transcription produced the DGQ is ''White Man Sleeps'' by

. This work was originally written for harpsichord and

viola da gamba The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitc ...

but was transcribed by the composer on request from the Kronos Quartet. The DGQ transcription of the string quartet version suggests a timbral hybrid of the original composition and string quartet transcription. This is a result of the mechanical and timbral similarities between the harpsichord and guitar. The DGQ recorded the work for the debut album Deleted Pieces.

"'I normally hate arrangements of my work,' he says. 'And they came along saying they'd already done it. I groaned. And then they came to play it for me. It was terrific. Somebody had already arranged it at one point for three guitars, and Chester's Volans's publishermore or less turned it down. But the new one was really good, so Chester's, at my insistence, okayed it.'"

;György Ligeti The quartet have made a transcription of the Six Bagatelles by Hungarian composer

. The quartet were given permission to make this transcription by the composer's widow and publisher

Schott Music Schott Music () is one of the oldest German music publishers. It is also one of the largest music publishing houses in Europe, and is the second oldest music publisher after Breitkopf & Härtel. The company headquarters of Schott Music were fou ...

. When producing the original Six Bagatelles for wind quintet, Ligeti selected six movements from his solo piano work

Musica ricercata ''Musica ricercata'' is a set of eleven pieces for piano by György Ligeti. The work was composed from 1951 to 1953, shortly after the composer began lecturing at the Budapest Academy of Music. The work premiered on 18 November 1969 in Sundsvall, ...

on request by the Jeney Quartet. The Dublin Guitar Quartet produced their first transcription on hearing the Fabian Oehrli's transcription of the Six Bagatelles for Saxophone Quartet. The Dublin Guitar Quartet have also performed their transcription of the original source piece Musica Ricercata. ;The Redneck Manifesto The Redneck Manifesto are a

post-rock Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with ...

band from Dublin, Ireland. Dublin Guitar Quartet member Brian Bolger is the brother of band member Matthew Bolger. Brian Bolger made a transcription of Soundscapes Over Landscapes by the group. The original recording can by found on the Redneck Manifesto's first album Thirty Six Strings. The quartet arrangement is included on the Dublin Guitar Quartet's first album Deleted Pieces. ;Others On 1 May 2010 the Dublin Guitar Quartet performed ''Repentance'' by Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina. The piece included a solo cello part performed by Russian cellist Ivan Monighetti and a double bass part performed by Malachy Robinson. The concert was presented by LCMS at St. Peter's Church in Drogheda. On 1 August 2010 the Dublin Guitar Quartet performed new works by the

spatial music Spatial music is composed music that intentionally exploits sound localization. Though present in Western music from biblical times in the form of the antiphon, as a component specific to new musical techniques the concept of spatial music (''Raumm ...

Collective at Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin's City Centre. They performed as an electric guitar quartet with guitar amplifiers positioned in the four corners of the venue. The concert included new works by Linda Buckley, Simon Cullen, Michael Flemming and Jonathan Nangle.

Discography

* ''The Dublin Guitar Quartet Performs Philip Glass'' (2014) * ''Deleted Pieces'' (2005) * ''Contemporary Irish'' (2018)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Irish classical musicians Musical quartets Contemporary classical music ensembles