Elliott Carter - String Quartet No 2, 3 (1974 quad mix 24/96 lossless 4.0 DVD-A)

24/96 4.0 lossless MLP (DVD-Audio).
16/48 4.0 AC3 @ 440kbps (DVD-Video) for compatibility with standard DVD players.
Slight noise/crackle filtering applied (Izotope RX 2), no EQ, compression, or rear channel boost.

Converted from quad SQ encoded vinyl using a FOSGATE RESEARCH TATE II 101A hardware decoder.


Performed by the Juilliard Quartet.


"Elliott Carter's three string quartets have played a prominent role in focusing attention on his career: Both the Second (1959) and Third (1971) Quartets were awarded the Pulitzer Prize; the Second has , additionally, received the New York Music Critics Circle Award (1960) and the International Rostrum of Composers Award (UNESCO) (Paris 1961). 
The string quartet has traditionally been written to be heard in a monophonic way; i.e., as one mass of sound coming from performer to listener. Carter's Second and Third Quartets are written so that "separation" of sound is essential to their playing and hearing." And since Carter has supplied each of the four performers with a virtouso part, the piece can take on an entirely different meaning if the attention is directed upon only one of the instruments."
- Robert Hurwitz

"'String Quartet No. 2' was written in 1959, interrupting work on the 'Double Concerto'. String Quartet No. 3 was finished in 1971 and was commisioned by the Juilliard School for the Juilliard Quartet, the ensemble that gave the first performance of both works. To my mind, it was largely due to the convincing way these works were first performed that they were both awarded the Pulitzer Prize. The patience, effort, imagination and skill they lavished on both of these works is something I cannot be more grateful enough for."
- Elliott Carter