HILL: String Quartets Vol. 4

Dominion String Quartet

8.572844

Alfred Hill was the ancestor of the Australian-Asian composers; his exploration of the string quartet genre shows the full breadth of his wealth of ideas. The Eleventh and Twelfth Quartets were composed in 1935, but are built quite differently. String Quartet No. 10 offers classical forms with echoes of Gershwin as well as an interesting last movement that lets the first three movements fly by in just 32 bars. Quartet No. 11 marks the climax of Hill's impressionistic inspirations, especially expressed in the beautiful slow movement. Hill wrote the quintet Life in 1912, in the finale he uses singing - an exciting experiment which he later transforms into a symphony. The Dominion String Quartet was founded in 2006 with the express intention of performing works by New Zealand composers. The name refers to the centennial return of the founding of British New Zealand in 1907, which coincided with the International Exhibition in Christchurch in 1906/07, where Alfred Hill appeared as conductor of the first professional New Zealand orchestra.

CD

Muzyka klasyczna

Naxos

07-11-2011

747313284474