American Contemporary composer Matthew Quayle [born 1976] has written at least three string quartets. I am going to discuss the first two.

The First Quartet is in four movements and opens with a composer marking of andante–espressivo. A warm cello arises out of the ether and majestic violin lines drift across and around it – the tone of the cello is superb. It eventually relents and we are left with a brief two violin passage until the ensemble regather. Now a lone pizzicato cello introduces a passage with other pizzicato sounds and a violin reaching into its highest register for a most transcendent moment. A change occurs, leading to a dense period of pizzicato underpinning almost frantic playing by the violins. The intensity softens and the cello returns to arco, initiating a period of several emotions and ensemble sounds, ranging from the serious to the spiritual. This is a simply wonderful section, music of great beauty and depth. A brief pause leads to a sparse passage and a gentle end.

A short second scherzo movement is a bustling affair as all instruments investigate a pizzicato passage. This is a chaotic, non-confronting section with an almost burlesque feeling.

The third movement is another andante. Long, sparse but sustained tones lead to a mysterious feeling, apparently totally without structure. Some dissonance follows, together with some glissando before the violins move into shrill notes and a slightly confronting passage. A pause introduces a new, sparsely executed section which also has its share of dissonance. It is worth noting that some of this music is extremely soft – I remastered it so that I could hear its nuances. As the end approaches a section of dissonant, but gently sustained notes fade a little and then lead straight into the next movement, without a pause.

This continuity allows for development of the previous sustained passage, with sparkling violin melodies coming to the fore – there is much joy here, mainly of a skittish nature. Major tonalities dominate and to me, the sound is very Contemporary American. Again the music is barely audible as it moves to a faded conclusion.

The Second Quartet, titled Sweet Insanity, is in one nine minute movement. A solo violin melody laments for a brief period until a jazz like cello enters, and now the full ensemble. The mood changes from a rubato feeling to a racing tempo, replete with scurrying violin glissandi and the cello in its high register. Various chordal thrusts are heard, and further glissandi express an eerie feeling. The music has now developed into a loud, dissonant chaos, which does not last. We are left with a sparse harmonised recurring violin motif, together with various string sound effects. Suddenly the dynamics erupt into a confronting passage. There is a brief, almost inaudible section which gradually builds into a period of entropy which ventures forward with all instruments seemingly not aware of each other. The final stages bring a loud dissonant section, which drops back in intensity to finish. This work is significantly more modern than the First Quartet.

The remaining quartet, No. 3, is a 22-minute, 13-movement piece that examines quite an array of emotions. I would classify it as relatively modern, especially when compared to the discussed works. I look forward to further string quartets from this composer, as there is already a significant stylistic progression in the first three.

The review CD, String Quartets Nos. 1-3, on the Naxos label and performed by the Avalon String Quartet is available on Amazon US and UK.

This CD can be heard on Spotify, earsense and YouTube.

Listenability: Fascinating Contemporary works.