Albany Records: String Quartets

Download from iTunes Quantity in Basket: None DONALD WHEELOCK String Quartets TROY139 - Price: $16.99

Wheelock's music will appeal to Copland fans.

Donald Wheelock is a native New Englander and has taught at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts since 1974 where he is currently Professor of Music. He studied composition with Edgar Curtis and Kenneth Leighton prior to receiving his Master of Music degree from the Yale University School of Music, where he was a student of composer Yehudi Wyner. A frequent guest at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire, he has twice received a Guggenheim Fellowship. In addition to the string quartets, Wheelock has written many chamber ensemble works, solo instrumental compositions, and numerous vocal, choral and orchestral works. The Ciompi Quartet has been in residence at Duke University since 1965. The current members of the quartet are professors in the Department of Music at Duke, where they perform, teach strings and chamber music, and bring the living tradition of string quartet playing into the University as well as to many cities in the region. In addition to their performance of the masterworks of the Classical and Romantic periods, the Ciompi Quartet has a special interest in commissioning and performing music by contemporary composers.

Review:

"These quartets could be described as neo-classical, though they are closer to Walter Piston or even Brahms than Stravinsky, in both style and spirit... there's no self-conscious mask or post-Modern smirking, no apology or irony in Wheelock's reverence for the noble heritage of the string quartet and the old-fashioned tonality and workmanship of its 18th and 19th Century masters. He simply expects his beautifully made and expressive quartets to speak directly to the listener... the Ciompi Quartet plays with conviction and vigor..." (American Record Guide)

Wheelock's music will appeal to Copland fans.

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