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Fred Lerdahl's Chaconne Debuts with the Daedalus Quartet

Mar. 01, 2017

Fred Lerdahl's <em>Chaconne</em> Debuts with the Daedalus Quartet

On March 13, the Daedalus Quartet premiere Fred Lerdahl’s String Quartet No. 4, Chaconne, his latest work for string quartet, at The Arthur Ross Gallery at the University of Pennsylvania. The new work was commissioned by the quartet in honor of their 15th anniversary.

Chaconne marks the second collaboration with Lerdahl and the Daedalus Quartet; in 2008, Chamber Music America commissioned his String Quartet No. 3 for Daedalus, and the quartet went on to record his complete cycle of String Quartets No. 1, 2, and 3 for Bridge Records. Lerdahl says of his new quartet 

Unlike the asymmetrical phrases and expanding variations of much of my music, the chaconne form requires symmetrical phrases and strictly periodic variations. Chaconne differs in character and expression from my earlier three-quartet cycle, and is, for the most part, transparent and playful. Many of its textures emerge from little canons, not unlike the rounds that children sing. Notwithstanding my attraction to the form, I purposefully disguised its symmetries and periodicities in order to build an overall dramatic shape. 

Listen to the Daedalus Quartet’s recording of Lerdahl’s String Quartet cycle below, and find it for sale from Bridge Records.

For more information on Fred Lerdahl, visit schott-music.com. Score and parts for select works, including Lerdahl’s String Quartet cycle, are available at psnymusic.com. 

Fred Lerdahl
String Quartet No. 4, "Chaconne" (2016)
19’ 

String Quartet No. 1 (1978, rev. 2008)
22’ 

String Quartet No. 2 (1982)
23’ 

String Quartet No. 3 (2008, rev. 2010)
22’

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