String Quartet

Commissioned by MusICA for the Arditti String Quartet

13’ 00” duration 1985

8 September 1985, Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) London. Arditti Quartet

Andrew Clements in the FT
Stephen Pettitt in The Times
Merion Bowen in The Guardian
Peter Heyworth in the Sunday Times
Dominic Gill in the FT.

The two quartets of Vic Hoyland, whose magic has been one of the high points of the ICA series, were altogether more exciting and assured. And then there was Hoyland’s brand new String Quartet, here receiving its world premiere. The lyrical slow movement harked back to the classical period in the organic grittiness of the whole was a distinctly Beethovenian streak. Come to think of it, the brilliantly idiomatic writing so skilfully negotiated by the Arditti Quartet owed much to the father of the contemporary quartet, Bela Bartok.

Great reviews like this led to the first Prom commission: In transit.

String Quartet at Universal Edition