UMPC composers Kurtág, Dusapin, Francesconi, Lim, Manoury, Stroppa, Aperghis, Fujikura and Parra send birthday wishes to the Arditti Quartet.
György Kurtag
Our friendship, which is almost as old as the present jubilee, began in the ‘80s with the London rehearsal of my First Quartet.
The lynching atmosphere of the first four hours, brought about by my over-detailed demands, was turned around in the fifth and sixth hours by the understanding of Irvine, a great artist and a great intellect. It became a splendid rehearsal and a beautiful concert!
From that time onwards and until today, nearly everything I have written for quartet has been played by the Arditti, which always brings me joy and is a great honour.
Thank you Irvine, thank you Arditti Quartet!
Pascal Dusapin
I got to know the Arditti Quartet when I was so young that, fortunately, I scarcely remember it …
On the other hand, I have always had the sense of being close to them, since each of my seven quartets has coincided with and accompanied their career.
And it is not over …
Of course, I have also learned a lot. For example, never to think about them, since it is the case that writing for the Arditti Quartet gives one complete freedom, in which instrumental constraints disappear like a mirage. Not only because of the prodigious technique that has made them unbelievable to the ears of the musical world, but especially because it is at the service of the most demanding music, and of that alone.
Luca Francesconi
For over 40 years, Irvine and the Arditti Quartet have forged and lead a dramatic change in the way contemporary creativity has been considered, supported, professionally rehearsed, and performed.
So, for the first time, new works written by composers were actually taken seriously as music: with the same devotion and commitment one would apply to a Beethoven quartet.
For composers this was illuminating. There were ensembles and performers in Europe who also championed new music during the same period, however it was still considered a rarity.
The presence of the Arditti has been vital, pedagogical, serious, and extremely generous.
The amount of skill, art, and confidence they’ve given us has been outstanding.
What more can I say?
Their presence has been invaluable.
Happy birthday!
With warmest regards and sincere friendship, Luca Francesconi
Philippe Manoury
The Arditti Quartet has done more for new music in our time than all the symphony orchestras of the world put together. Because of their talent, obstinacy, and professionalism (three essential things that enable art to survive), this group has occupied for forty years an essential position in the music of our time. Thanks to them, numerous young quartets now have access to a vast repertoire which they have helped to create.
My first encounter with the Arditti Quartet was in 1978, when these musicians recorded my first quartet (since withdrawn from my catalogue) at the same time as works by Pascal Dusapin. It is only fairly recently that I renewed my association with them. Of the group that I met 35 years ago, only Irvine Arditti, the founder, remains but their enthusiasm and brilliance are the same. Today, an Englishman, an Armenian, a Brazilian, and a German make up this extraordinary group which has always been noted for the cultural diversity of its members. Clear proof, if it were needed, that serious music has nothing to do with borders.
Happy birthday, dear friends, and here’s to many more years!
Dai Fujikura
Happy 40th, Arditti Quartet! Because of Arditti Quartet, composers continue to write string quartets, and string quartets play the quartets written today.
It was a great pleasure for me to write FLARE for Arditti Quartet. Thank you for allowing me to add a tiny “speck of dust" to the huge collection of works you have commissioned over the years.
With best wishes and friendship, Dai Fujikura
Hèctor Parra
Writing for the Arditti Quartet: a sonic adventure that has profoundly marked my language for strings since 2002.
To rehearse and to be premiered by the Arditti's: a real leap into the unknown that propels your own conception of what is conceivable in music.
I was fortunate to renew this experience last November during my residency at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (hcmf//) in 2013.
Marco Stroppa
Amazingly
Remarkable
Devilishly
Inquisitive
Terrific
Towering
Interpreters
Happy, Birthday, Signori Arditti!
Liza Lim
I first met Irvine Arditti and the Arditti String Quartet when they premiered my work Pompes Funèbres at the 1988 ISCM Festival Hong Kong. I met them again at the 1993 Milano Musica when they premiered another piece of mine called HELL. I've heard them play at countless festivals and have the honour of taking part in their birthday concert in Witten with a new piece dedicated to them The Weaver’s Knot (10 May 2014).
They've given birth to new works from a mind-boggling number of composers and have won every honour and I'm wondering now if I should have made a text piece instead of a score: It would say 'smoke cigars, drink champagne, bask in the gratitude and admiration of the audience - happy birthday'.
George Aperghis
Forty years old already! From Xenakis to the young composers of today, the Arditti Quartet (which has become legendary in the world of contemporary music) has inspired and premiered innumerable pieces for this scoring, thus renewing the repertoire in a decisive way. I have had the luck to work with them numerous times: always ready to reach out, as close as possible to the music, with a profound desire to share, to make music together, at once very demanding and very open, none of which denies their great sense of humour. I will always remember the rehearsals for Triangle carré, where the quartet is confronted with a percussion trio: a risky exercise, very virtuosic for the seven players, and where their liveliness and capacity to adapt created marvels.
I hope they may continue to flourish for a long time to come, as they have up till now, and knowing them I think that they are capable of increasing their pace even more!