Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen: Complete String Quartets vol. 1

Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen (1932–2016) wrote string quartets all his life. Fourteen in all; the first three dating from 1959, the last ones from 2013. Launching its complete cycle of Gudmundsen-Holmgreen’s string quartets, the Nordic String Quartet here presents the first six quartets: Childlike wonder meets cynical comment, cliché meets originality, the ecstatic is combined with the ascetic – Gudmundsen-Holmgreen’s string quartets are full of such clashes. We start at one point and end at a totally different one. Never fusty, often entertaining, always adamant.

Recording producer: Tim Frederiksen