Quartetset

Not too long ago, I spent a few months working on a project that required me to drool over the Bartók quartets and consider their role in the development of the form. Yeah, I know, what a hardship. But ever since, whenever I hear a quartet, another step in that development is what I’m listening for. The musical world frequently likes to frame the conversation as a discussion of how Bartók pushed past Beethoven. Maybe Crumb pushed past him? We could continue on like this, but what strikes me while listening to the quartets of Sebastian Currier on this New World release is that rather than push at the outside edges looking for the new, he’s made a less obvious and perhaps more dangerous decision to look closer at normative paths in quartet writing, and then adds his own twist and a kick. Quarterset’s middle movement, “Scatterbrained,” is a great aural example of how this plays out in sound. The Cassatt Quartet flits over scratchy snatches of a waltzy dance tune and then crashes into moments of aggressive sawing—and everything sounds almost normal, but not quite. It’s a bit like you’re on the other side of the looking glass and the chairs are all on the ceiling.

–MS