Julia Wolfe: The String Quartets

Ethel (Artist), Cassatt String Quartet (Artist), Lark Quartet (Artist), Julia Wolfe (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: Julia Wolfe
• Audio CD (February 11, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Cantaloupe
• ASIN: B00007IPZT
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #330,677 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Dig Deep, for string quartet

2. Four Marys, for string quartet

3. Early that summer, for string quartet

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Influence, February 3, 2005

By 

David Brown (Marlton, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Julia Wolfe: The String Quartets (Audio CD)

What made me get this CD of Julia Wolfe's String Quartets was her citing of influences from Beethoven to Led Zeppelin. Specifically these string quartets were said to be inspired by Led Zeppelin and other American 'pop' music. I had to hear it.

Know what you're getting into before you buy this CD. All the pieces brush close to minimalism but with more intensity, less pure harmonies, and much better rhythm. You won't find shimmering, sweet harmonies but rather harsh and blunt harmonies. Her influences for these works seem to come from rock and metal less than from Beethoven, Schubert, or the like.

The first quartet, 'Big Deep', plays true to its name. It's an almost non-stop rhythmic work on some harsh, low chords. It almost reminds me of a metal band like Meshuggah being transcribed to String Quartet. It sounds like the soundtrack to an aggressive underwater expedition by the Discovery Channel. Different short, adventurous melodies try to break through on the violins occasionally but are always beaten down back into the 'big deep' of the rhythmic chords. It gets progressively more dissonant and harsher towards the end, building up a violent undercurrent that crashes against the end as suddenly as it began.

'Four Marys' is definately the most abstract sounding of the pieces. It is less repetitive than Big Deep. It begins with all parts doing glissandos, sliding around the middle registers. This eventually turns into some webs of soft harmonies sustained, and occasionally reverts back to its searching, sliding beginnings.

'Last Summer' is more remeniscent of the first piece, back to the grinding chords, but not as deep and to me not as memorable. It has more moments of melody, which is to say a few brief snatches of melody over 10 minutes. It's the least impressive work on the album to me.

If you're looking for music with brilliant progression, challenging harmonies and deeply emotional melody, this CD is not for you. If you want to hear some excellent rhythm work and see what happens when you take a classical medium into more modern rhythm and chord methods of rock and metal music (though i'm sure Wolfe wouldn't characterize it quite like that), then definately give this CD a shot.

10 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fun like the dentist, December 19, 2004

By 

Slip Kid (The Hague) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Julia Wolfe: The String Quartets (Audio CD)

The New Yorker included this CD as one of its top classical releases of 2003, and that's how I ended up with one of the only CD's, of hundred's I've purchased, that I'm desperate to get rid of. The first track opens with a grinding, jarring riff that's a bit of Purple Haze without the satisfaction of any kind of resolution or even progression. It churns relentlessly and repetitively for over 13 minutes with the one moment of glory the beautiful respite of silence that comes when the last dissonant chord fades. The next track oscillates in and out of harmony, an effect that could be reproduced by a house DJ (with a death wish) who messed with the speed control of turntable playing Philip Glass in a dirge-like mode. The third track -- well, who knows -- my pain threshold had long since been met and crossed.
As a casual classical music fan, I can't claim to make sense of all of this. But if this is what passes as new, interesting, and innovative classical music then it is no wonder the genre is in trouble. If it's pleasure you're after, look elsewhere. If you like your music as a self-flagellating intellectual exercise, then this may be the one for you. Just keep the Advil nearby.