Witold Lutosławski's String Quartet was commissioned by

Sveriges Radio Sveriges Radio AB (, "Sweden's Radio") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, previously funded through a licensing fee, the level of which is d ...

for the tenth anniversary of its new music program "Nutida Musik." It was completed in 1964 and its world premiere was performed by the

LaSalle Quartet The LaSalle Quartet was a string quartet active from 1946 to 1987. It was founded by first violinist Walter Levin. The LaSalle's name is attributed to an apartment on LaSalle Street in Manhattan, where some of its members lived during the quarte ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

on March 12, 1965.

Composition

The String Quartet has a duration of approximately 24 minutes and is composed in two movements: "Introduction" and "Main Movement." Lutosławski described the piece in the score program notes, writing, "In this Quartet I have sought to develop and enlarge the technique employed in the two preceding works, '' Jeux Venitiens'' and ''Trois Poèmes d’Henri Michaux'' the technique of what I call controlled aleatorism. It employs the element of chance for the purpose of rhythmic and expressive enrichment of the music without limiting in the least the full ability of the composer to determine the definitive form of the work."

Reception

The String Quartet has been praised by music critics and remains one of the most widely performed and recorded modern string quartets. Graham Rickson of ''

The Arts Desk ''The Arts Desk'' (theartsdesk.com) is a British arts journalism website containing reviews, interviews, news, and other content related to music, theatre, television, films, and other art forms written by journalists from a variety of tradition ...

'' called it "fascinating, entertaining music" and wrote, "The music's complexities don't detract from its vivid, communicative power. Lutosławski's masterful ability to create beguiling sounds is just as potent in his chamber writing. The quartet's spectral ending remains astonishing."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:String Quartet (Lutoslawski) Compositions by Witold Lutosławski 1964 compositions Lutoslawski Commissioned music

Composition

Reception

See also

References