Release Date: 08 July 2022
Label: New World
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 093228083221
Genres: Classical Chamber Music
Description
Alvin Singleton’s (born 1940) approach to music-making has all along been involved in an interplay with listeners and their psychology.
While this does not mean he has been centred on simply pleasing his audiences, his work seems to constantly draw his audience into confronting challenges of listening, and they tend to end up pleased.
When asked recently about why ordinary listeners seem to “get” his music, he answered:
“Perhaps because it’s structurally filled with surprises, a lot of silences, and spaces in my compositions.…”
Contrasts both big and small, long and short, vigorous and subdued, loud and quiet, are important to his music. Maybe a passage is presented that happens loudly over and over again followed by sudden silence. Suddenly the listener notices how loud that silence seems. In a way, it is the relationship with the listener that he regards as making serious music a serious matter.
Singleton’s string quartets span the arc of his career—the first (untitled) written in 1967, the fourth in 2019—and trace his stylistic evolution as a composer. Suggestively and somewhat enigmatically titled—No. 2 (1988) is Secret Desire to Be Black; No. 3 (1994) is Somehow We Can; No. 4 is Hallelujah Anyhow—they serve as an excellent introduction to his work and constitute a substantial contribution to the string quartet repertoire by one of this country’s most distinguished African-American composers.
Three of the four quartets are world-premiere recordings.
Tracklisting
Sofia Burgos, Sofia Jernberg, Zwerm
Ghost Ensemble: Margaret Lancaster, Sky Macklay, Ben Richter, Chris Nappi, Lucia Helen Stavros, Mar
Sarah Hennies
Ostrava New Orchestra, Owen Underhill, Ostravska Banda, Petr Kotik, Elision Ensemble, Arditti Quartet, Switch~ Ensemble, Jason Thorpe Buchanan
James Martin, Lynn Raley
Peter Gena
New World
New World
Karolos
The Counterpoints
Narratio Quartet
Danbi Um; Juho Pohjonen
Engegard Quartet, NyNorsk Messingkvintett
Flute Alors
Louise Bessette
Jonas Batstrand, Jorn Fossheim
