Tippett was 'invincibly drawn to the quartet medium' after hearing performances by the Busch and Léner Quartets, both string quartets, while he was a student in London.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Tippett's challenge was to adapt and redefine Beethovenian forms in a meaningful 20th-century compositional context, as Beethoven's music, especially his quartets, enthralled him.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Many of Tippett's compositions reflect his social, political, and philosophical beliefs.
Composer Biography
Michael Tippett, the composer, was imprisoned in 1943 for his pacifist beliefs.
Performer Biography
The Tippett Quartet, formed in 1998, made their debut at Wigmore Hall in the same year and regularly performs on BBC Radio 3.
Compositional Technique
Tippett's String Quartet No. 1 features 'additive rhythm and cross-rhythm polyphony,' a technique that replaces a regular pulse with an irregular pattern of rhythmic metres, inspired by Elizabethan madrigal composers.
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Retrospections
Bacewicz: Streichquartette, Nr. 4, Nr. 6, Nr. 7
Rosenberg: String Quartets Nos. 1, 6 and 12
Jonathan Leshnoff: String Quartet No. 3 "Miller-Kahn"; String Quartet No. 4; Four Dances
