Paul Stanhope: String Quartets (Australian String Quartet)
Important works, impeccably realised, from one of Australia’s finest.

Genre: Classical

Date Released: 28 October 2022

The Australian String Quartet (ASQ) has been creating unforgettable performances for audiences around the world for nearly half a century. Dedicated to musical excellence with a distinctly Australian flavour, the ASQ here presents three powerful and beautiful string quartets by multi-award-winning Australian composer Paul Stanhope.

Tracklist

1   String Quartet No. 1 'Elegies & Dances'

String Quartet No. 2

2   I. Prelude                                        

3   II. Flight                                          

4   III. Dirge (Variations)                    

5   IV. Scherzo                                      

String Quartet No. 3 'From the Kimberley'

6   I. Tracks & Traces

7   II. Dirrari Lament                            

8   III. River-Run                                  

Artist
Australian String Quartet

Dale Barltrop violin I

Francesca Hiew violin II

Stephen King / Christopher Cartlidge (track 1) viola

Sharon Grigoryan / Michael Dahlenburg (track 1) cello

Product details
From multi-award winning Australian composer Paul Stanhope come these world premiere recordings of three powerful and beautiful string quartets.

Rhapsodic and elgiac outer sections frame a pizzicato dance riff in Elegies and Dances; String Quartet No. 2 is a reflection on the refugee experience: persecution and flight, but also arrival and new beginnings.

Quartet No. 3 From the Kimberley explores aspects of the story of the Indigenous resistance hero Jandamarra: hunting and being hunted; grief and loss; and hope born from the unbreakable connection between people and country.

Brilliantly performed by the acclaimed Australian String Quartet on a matching set of 18th-century Guadagnini instruments.