''Quartets'' is a 1994

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by English

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and

improvisor Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

Fred Frith Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith (born 17 February 1949) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser. Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock ...

. It consists of two

compositions Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature * Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

by Frith, "Lelekovice, String Quartet #1", performed by the Violet Wires String Quartet, and "The As Usual Dance Towards the Other Flight to What is Not", performed by an electric guitar quartet. Frith performs with the guitar quartet, but not with the string quartet.

Background

"Lelekovice, String Quartet #1" was composed by Frith in 1990 and was dedicated to

Iva Bittová Iva Bittová (born 22 July 1958) is a Czech avant-garde violinist, singer, and composer. She began her career as an actor in the mid-1970s, appearing in several Czech feature films, but switched to playing violin and singing in the early 1980s. ...

, Lelekovice being the name of the village near

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

where Bittová lives. It was first performed in July 1991 by the Mondriaan Quartet at the Nieuwe Muziek Festival, in

Middelburg Middelburg may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe * Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland c ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, and was used by the United States

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

Amanda Miller in her dance piece, ''My Father's Vertigo'' in 1991. The recording on this album was made in December 1992 by the Violet Wires String Quartet at

Angel Recording Studios Angel Recording Studios Limited (also referred to as Angel Studios) was a British recording studio based in the eponymous recording and mixing complex in Islington, London. The company was incorporated by James Warren Sylvester de Wolfe on 5 De ...

, London. "Lelekovice" was recorded again in June 2003 by the

Arditti Quartet The Arditti Quartet is a string quartet founded in 1974 and led by the British violinist Irvine Arditti. The quartet is a globally recognized promoter of contemporary classical music and has a reputation for having a very wide repertoire. T ...

and appeared on Frith's 2005 album, ''

Eleventh Hour The Eleventh Hour may refer to: * "The eleventh hour", a phrase in the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard in the Bible Film * ''The Eleventh Hour'' (1912 film), an Australian silent film * ''The Eleventh Hour'' (1922 film), a British adapt ...

''. "The As Usual Dance Towards the Other Flight to What is Not" was commissioned by Roulette,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and composed by Frith in 1989. It consists of eight movements labeled A to H, and can be performed in any sequence. For this recording, the order is D, B, C, G, H, F, A, E. The title "The As Usual Dance ..." is taken from a letter written by Anne Hemenway. The piece was first performed in February 1989 by Les 4 Guitaristes de l'Apocalypso-Bar at

The Kitchen The Kitchen is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary avant-garde performance and experimental art institution located at 512 West 19th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was founde ...

, New York City, and recorded by the same group in February 1989 at Studio Victor,

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. An album of this piece and other recordings by the group were released on ''Fin de Siecle'' (1989). Only sections A and C of this composition appear on the album. Frith did not play on "The As Usual Dance Towards the Other Flight to What is Not" with Les 4 Guitaristes de l'Apocalypso-Bar, and when he wanted to perform this piece himself, he assembled an electric guitar quartet in 1992, comprising

René Lussier René Lussier (born April 15, 1957) is a jazz guitarist based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is a composer, guitarist, bass guitarist, percussionist, bass clarinetist, and singer. Lussier has collaborated with Fred Frith, Chris Cutler, Jean Dero ...

Nick Didkovsky Nick Didkovsky (born 22 November 1958) is a composer, guitarist, computer music programmer, and leader of the band Doctor Nerve.Dorsch He is a former student of Christian Wolff, Pauline Oliveros and Gerald Shapiro. Career Didkovsky formed Docto ...

Mark Howell Mark Howell is an American musician, composer,Mark Stewart replaced Howell and the new quartet became known as the

Fred Frith Guitar Quartet The Fred Frith Guitar Quartet was an American-based contemporary classical and experimental music guitar quartet comprising Fred Frith, René Lussier, Nick Didkovsky and Mark Stewart. The group was formed in 1989 by Frith and they performed ...

, touring internationally and recording two albums, ''

Ayaya Moses ''Ayaya Moses'' is a 1997 studio album by the Fred Frith Guitar Quartet, an American-based contemporary classical and experimental music guitar quartet comprising Fred Frith, René Lussier, Nick Didkovsky and Mark Stewart. It is their debut ...

'' (1997) and ''

Upbeat Up beat may refer to: *Upbeat, in music, the last beat in the previous bar which immediately precedes the downbeat *Anacrusis, a note (or sequence of notes) which precedes the first downbeat in a bar in a musical phrase * ''Upbeat'' (album), by t ...

'' (1999). Parts of "The As Usual Dance Towards the Other Flight to What is Not" also appear in the documentary film, ''

Step Across the Border ''Step Across the Border'' is a 1990 avant-garde documentary film on English guitarist, composer and improviser Fred Frith. It was written and directed by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel and released in Germany and Switzerland. The film was ...

'' (1990), and its soundtrack, ''

'' (1990), performed by an electric guitar quartet which Frith conducts.

Track listing

All tracks composed by

Personnel

"Lelekovice, String Quartet #1" performed by Violet Wires String Quartet: *

Ann Morfee Ann Morfee, sometimes credited as "Anne Morphee", "Ann Morphy", or similar variants, is co-founder of Opus 20 and was a member of the Michael Nyman Band from 1992 to 2002. She was educated at Chetham's School, Manchester, University of York a ...

– violin *Abigail Brown – violin *Phil D'Arcy – viola *Liz Parker – cello "The As Usual Dance Towards the Other Flight to What is Not" performed by Electric Guitar Quartet: *

– guitar *

Mark Howell Mark Howell is an American musician, composer,Angel Recording Studios Angel Recording Studios Limited (also referred to as Angel Studios) was a British recording studio based in the eponymous recording and mixing complex in Islington, London. The company was incorporated by James Warren Sylvester de Wolfe on 5 De ...

, London by Tom Leader **Mixed in January 1993 at Sound Fabrik,

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

by Benedykt Grodon and

*"The As Usual Dance Towards the Other Flight to What is Not" **Recorded and mixed in April 1992 at Sorcerer Sound, New York City by David Avidor *Artwork by Peter Bäder

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1994 albums Fred Frith albums RecRec Music albums Albums produced by Fred Frith