String Quartet No. 4, also known by its other title ''Buczak'', is a

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

by the American composer

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 ...

. It was commissioned by

Geoffrey Hendricks Geoffrey Hendricks (July 30, 1931 in Littleton, New Hampshire – May 12, 2018) was an American artist associated with Fluxus since the mid 1960s. He was professor emeritus of art at Rutgers University, where he taught from 1956 to 2003 and was ass ...

in remembrance of the artist

Brian Buczak Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word meani ...

. It was premiered on July 4, 1989 at the Hauser Gallery.

Composition

It was commissioned by

in remembrance of the artist

, who succumbed to AIDS in 1987 at the age of 33. It was premiered at a memorial service on the second anniversary of the artist's death on July 4, 1989 at the Hauser Gallery. Glass wanted his fourth quartet to represent "a musical impression of uczakas a person as well as a tribute to his life's work".

Structure

This composition consists of three movements and takes approximately 23 minutes to perform. The movements are listed as follows: This quartet touches on the quartet heritage of Franz Schubert and also

Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czechs, Czech composer. Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravian traditional music, Moravia and his native Bohemia, following t ...

. The first movement begins with unison and then develops to freely interchanged melodic and rhythmic components. It heads towards an animated ending. The second movement features a lyrical and beautiful melody. The finale mixes what has been heard in the precedent movements. It builds momentum to end in a resigned and conclusive manner.

Notable recordings

Notable recordings of this composition include:

References

External links

Archivio Conz
*, Paul Klee 4 TET, 2008 {{Portal bar, Classical music String quartets by Philip Glass 1983 compositions