Max: String Quartets The Tippett Quartet & Sir Michael Morpurgo

• Sir Michael Morpurgo (b. 1943), Noah Max (b. 1998): String Quartet No. 1, Op. 25 "The Man Who Planted Trees":
• 1 Morpurgo, Max: String Quartet No. 1, Op. 25 "The Man Who Planted Trees": I. Andante desolato 10:10
• 2 Morpurgo, Max: String Quartet No. 1, Op. 25 "The Man Who Planted Trees": II. Maestoso. Expansive 08:04
• 3 Morpurgo, Max: String Quartet No. 1, Op. 25 "The Man Who Planted Trees": III. Vivo 06:12
• Noah Max: String Quartet No. 3, Op. 41:
• 4 Max: String Quartet No. 3, Op. 41 10:44
• String Quartet No. 4, Op. 45:
• 5 Max: String Quartet No. 4, Op. 45 15:37
• String Quartet No. 2, Op. 37:
• 6 Max: String Quartet No. 2, Op. 37: I. Andante glaciale 06:02
• 7 Max: String Quartet No. 2, Op. 37: II. Intensamente con ira 08:11
• 8 Max: String Quartet No. 2, Op. 37: III. Unearthly; mesmeric 03:43
• Total Runtime 01:08:43

Info for Max: String Quartets

Es ist nicht nur bemerkenswert, dass der in London lebende Noah Max (* 1998) mit Mitte zwanzig bereits vier Streichquartette komponiert hat, sondern auch, dass ihre stilistische Bandbreite überraschend groß ist. Nr. 1, das Jean Gionos Geschichte "Der Mann, der Baume pflanzte" vertont, die hier vom Kinderbuchautor Sir Michael Morpurgo erzählt wird, hat entfernte Wurzeln in der englischen Pastoral-Dichtung, aber die gebrochenen Linien, die verstohlenen Farben und die ekstatischen Texturen von Nr. 2 und 3 sind viel näher an der europäischen Moderne, mit Anklängen an Kurtág und Ligeti. Im Gegensatz dazu ist Nr. 4 ein wilder Ritt, dessen manische, wirbelnde Rhythmen von Passagen geflüsterter Intimität unterbrochen werden, die schließlich in Stille münden. Seine Musik wird vom berühmten Tippet Quartet aufgeführt, das kürzlich für seine Aufnahme der Gorécki-Quartette als Record of the Month vom Gramophone-Magazin ausgezeichnet wurde.

Michael Morpurgo, Sprecher
Tippett Quartet

Michael Morpurgo
born in 1943 in St Albans, England, is one of Britain's best-known authors of books for children and young people. After studying in London, he worked as a teacher and in 1976 set up the charity project ‘Farms for City Children’, which enables children from socially deprived urban areas to spend time in the countryside. In 1999, he and his wife were admitted to the Order of the British Empire. He has been a freelance writer since 1982 and has been honoured with the prestigious ‘Whitebread Children's Award’.

Noah Max
British-Austrian composer Noah Max’s output spans opera, orchestral and chamber music. His works have been performed at the Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall and the Royal Albert Hall’s Elgar Room in London, as well as Vienna’s Musikverein, Altalena Festival in Budapest, Uilenburgersjoel Synagogue in Amsterdam and the Paderewski Academy in Poland. His string trio Sojourn won the 2021 Clements Prize and was performed by members of the Piatti Quartet at Conway Hall.

As Composer-in-Residence at Thaxted Festival from 2023 – 2024, Max saw his String Quartet No.2 premiered by the Tippett Quartet in July 2023. The festival subsequently commissioned Symphony No.1, which premiered with London Mozart Players in June 2024, followed by the Echo Ensemble performing Max’s Phantasy Quintet later that month. Other highlights of the 2023/24 season included Max’s song cycle Rapture, based on the 2005 poetry collection by Carol Ann Duffy, which premiered at Wild Arts’ Summer Opera Festival, in partnership with the Essex Book Festival. Max also conducted his new Cello Concerto AXIOM with Robert Max and Echo Ensemble as part of Proms at St. Jude’s. For his upcoming projects, Max is collaborating with artists such as Ian Bostridge, Jeremy Huw Williams, Alexandra Balog and Imogen Whitehead.

The Tippett Quartet
regularly appear at Kings Place, Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Bridgewater Hall and frequently perform on BBC Radio 3. They have performed at the BBC Proms and toured Europe, Canada and Mexico. Their broad and diverse repertoire highlights the Tippett Quartet’s unique versatility. Their impressive catalogue of recordings have been released on Naxos, EMI Classics, Signum, Decca, Classic FM, SOMM Records, Vivat, Guild, Real World, Dutton Epoch and Tocatta Classics with universal critical acclaim.

The Tippett Quartet recently worked on a groundbreaking reimagining of Beethoven’s iconic Op. 135 with composer/soundscape artist Matthew Herbert for a BBC Radio 3 broadcast, which was also used as the BBC TV ident. They have also given numerous world and UK premieres including works by John Adams, Howard Goodall and Stephen Dodgson.

In 2013 the Tippett Quartet rediscovered Gustav Holst’s Fantasy on British Folk Songs which, with the help of the eminent musicologist Roderick Swanston, they were able to complete and give a world premiere on BBC Radio 3. They have also worked with Peter Maxwell-Davies for a performance of his 9th Quartet at the South Bank, with Anthony Payne on his Quartet No.1 for a live BBC broadcast from Spitalfields Festival, and Hugh Wood on his String Quartet No.3 at the Presteigne Festival.

2016 saw the quartet commission pianist and composer Alissa Firsova to write her ‘Tennyson Fantasia’ , a project supported by The Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust, Ambache Trust and Nicholas Boas Trust. It was premiered at Kings Place with the actor Finbar Lynch reciting Tennyson’s poems and was subsequently performed on BBC Radio 3 and at various concert venues across the UK. They also appeared on the Decca CD release of Damian Montagu’s music, in which they accompanied the actor Hugh Bonneville narrating his own poetry. A live premiere of both poetry and music was premiered at Chichester’s Minerva Theatre.

In 2011 they celebrated the anniversary of the iconic film composer Bernard Herrmann with a series of concerts and radio broadcasts alongside quartets by Miklos Rozsa and Eric Korngold. They also commissioned a unique string quartet arrangement of the “Psycho” film score, which Norma Herrmann, Bernard’s widow, granted them special permission to make and perform. She also accompanied them on several occasions to give pre-concert talks on Herrmann’s life and music. In 2016, the Tippett Quartet continued their link with film composers when they gave the premiere of Alberto Iglesias’ string quartet No.1 in Madrid.

In 2014 the Tippett Quartet started a collaboration with some of the UK’s finest Jazz musicians with the launch of their ‘Close To You’ project featuring Matt Ford – a tribute to the album that Frank Sinatra made with the Hollywood String Quartet. They are now continuing this collaboration featuring singer and broadcaster Claire Martin OBE. Both projects have lead to performances throughout the UK, a Radio 3 broadcast and concerts at Snape Proms, Ronnie Scott’s and Pizza Express, Dean Street.

Alongside a busy touring schedule, the Tippett Quartet pursues a keen interest in educational work with both schools and universities. They were Ensemble in Residence at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University for 2012-13 and since September 2015 they began two exciting new residencies at Royal Holloway University, London and St Edmund’s School, Canterbury. They are also featured in the new Boosey & Hawkes publication “4 Strings” edited and compiled by Liz Partridge.

Booklet for Max: String Quartets