MARCIAL DEL ADALID (1826-1881): String Quartet in G, Op. 16, JOSÉ ARRIOLA (1895-1954): String Quartet in C, JUAN DURÁN (b.1960): String Quartet.

Description: Each of these composers represents the experiences of their respective lifetimes in Galicia, a place with a true vocation for universality. Marcial del Adalid studied in London with Ignaz Moscheles and became one of the main representatives of the ‘Rexurdimento’, a Romantic nationalist movement in Galicia. His quartet is in four Beethovenian movements, and there are echoes of the latter’s Sonata Pathétique Arriola was also a famous pianist. A child prodigy, he was sponsored by the Spanish queen who gave him a scholarship to study in Germany with Richard Strauss. His quartet is imbued with Germanic post-romanticism, the legacy of Strauss’s teachings. A work of great depth, Arriola creates a dense polyphonic framework while eliminating ornaments, giving the piece great lyrical intensity. Durán is one of the most representative composers of the current generation of Galician artists.. The most striking aspect of his quartet is the choice of the three movements that make it up: a pasodoble, a blues and a samba. Durán wanted to heighten the classical form through maintaining its sonata structure. Therefore, the pasodoble acts as the exposition section, the blues is the development, and the energetic final samba is structured around the recurring rondo. Cuarteto Novecento. Brilliant Classics 96661 (Netherlands) 03Y003 $14.98