Search - Howard Hanson, Randall Thompson, Houston Lyric Quartet :: Thompson: String Quartets 1 and 2; Hanson: String Quartet

Wonderful discoveries

Robert Baksa | new york state | 09/20/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This beautifully performed recording serves to remind us that some truly lovely conservative music written by American composers has been pushed to the side in deference to more challenging music which is so very original, forward looking and innovative, but very hard to listen to. Much of the time I find, as a listener, I can be stimulated by the originality of such works but they rarely stand up to repeated hearings. (In college I was astounded by the Bartok Quartets but found less and less to enjoy musically as I matured. I don't listen to them at all now.) On the other hand..."A thing of beauty is a joy forever." In particular, I find that the two Thompson quartets get lovelier with each hearing. They are real "finds." I hope that some enterprising quartet will turn its attention to the quartets of Paul Creston. The popularity of his Alto Saxophone Sonata (a great piece) would make one suspect that there is something worth while to be discovered in Creston's string works. The present recording certainly stimulates my interest in seeking out more Randall Thompson."