Sculthorpe: The Complete String Quartets with Didjeridu

Peter Sculthorpe (1929-2014) was a brilliant Australian composer who studied with Wellesz and Rubbra in the late 1950s. These discs compromise his complete works for string quartet and didgeridoo (an indigenous Australian drone wind instrument made out of a hollowed-out tree branch). Sculthorpe was first approached by Kronos Quartet with the idea of composing for string quartet and didgeridoo, but he would not bring the idea to light until years later. Sculthorpe’s music has an Asian influence, and there are percussive elements to these quartets as well. The didgeridoo player, Stephen Kent, incorporates imitations of sounds of animals. These sounds help paint a picture of the Australian outback, giving Sculthorpe’s music an individual voice. Kent and the members of the quartet are all San Francisco based (coincidentally, I had a chance to play a didgeridoo once on a street corner in Los Angeles back in the 90’s; something to tell the grandchildren about!), and the Del Sol ensemble have received numerous awards for their original music programming. This set consists of two short CDs (the total time of all four quartets is just over 82 minutes), and a Blu-ray audio disc. The pieces were recorded at 24-bit, 192kHz in 7.1 surround sound, and the Blu-ray disc can be used to play all four works in 7.l, 5.1, or stereo LPCM. It also contains mShuttle digital MP3 and FLAC files. A unique musical experience.

Yeah coming into this I was a skeptic…string quartet with “new agey” “Worldy” Didjeridu….BOY was I WRONG….this is some deep and beautiful music and a serious must hear! CHECK IT.

This work is unlike any other, not simply because of its unlikely pairing of didjeridu and string quartet. Sculthorpe's compositions take you across the Australian and New Zealand landscape, and into their history. The Del Sol String Quartet and Stephen Kent coax visions along with exquisite sounds, both familiar and strikingly unfamiliar, from their instruments in their wonderful perfomances of the work. This is a remarkable accomplishment, well worth celebrating, and one you will be glad to have in your collection.