Joseph Phibbs Quartets

"It's rare to hear something completely new that is so completely satisfying. I’ve listened to the entire CD three times already and I continue to hear something new and wonderful each and every time. Anyone who is at all interested in contemporary string quartet music, and/or the art of string quartet playing, must absolutely hear this recording. ​I have several favorite string quartets whose recordings I extol all the time, but the Piatti Quartet is surely one of the very best - ever. Their playing of these string quartets is beyond awesome; it is simply out of this world." David Rowe, Classical CD Reviews [read complete review]

"The recording as a whole gives not only the state of the string quartet in the 21st century but also an eye on Joseph Phibbs’ development of the string quartet as a personal statement. He has the freedom to expand from the traditional four-movement format and to move from traditional tempo-based movements to character pieces, freeing both the music and the players." Interlude [read complete review]

"I really enjoyed these quartets and look forward to hearing more of Phibbs’s music: it is the kind of unshowy, well-composed and memorable writing which doesn’t grab attention but rewards it. The Piatti Quartet repay the composer’s confidence in them with strong and committed performances, and the recording is excellent. Those who care for string quartets should explore these works." Stephen Barber, musicweb-international.com [read complete review]

"Joseph Phibbs was 40 when he composed his first numbered string quartet, in 2014. Some ten years on, he has recently produced his fourth – for the commissioners of that roundly welcomed work, the Piatti Quartet, who here render all three subsequent quartets with wonderfully subtle perceptiveness.

Already creatively surefooted – and steeped in strings since a young cellist – Phibbs has only grown in stature over the past decade. And the same is true of the prize-winning Piatti, for whom Phibbs has become their most-performed contemporary composer. The rich, mutual understanding they share readily communicates to the listener.

Each work has its own transparency of form and texture which shows an unabashed debt to Britten among other forebears. Yet it’s completely Phibb’s voice that emerges through his wholly coherent and idiosyncratic – often understated, deceptively simple – use of quasi-tonal and rhythmic devices, with supple flickers of blues, Balkan folk and more.

It’s only on arrival at the upwards-yearning final movement of String Quartet No.2 (2015) that the ingenuity of its structural and expressive arc becomes clear, as the preceding sections – complete in themselves – lead to a radiantly reflective close.

String Quartet No.3 (2018, revised 2021) is dedicated to former teacher Steven Stucky (1949-2016) and its restrained yet propulsive first movement is the most substantial. But the ensuing four prove equally variegated, and more affecting still, even where quirkiest in the harmonically uncanny fourth, ‘Corrente’.

The use of the cello as melodic as well as harmonic underpinning is nowhere more striking than in Quartet No.4 (2024). Described as ‘a sequence of short character pieces’, oscillating motifs and folk rhythms combine with an English whimsy unafraid of its passionate emotional core." Steph Power, BBC Music Magazine Performance ★★★★★ Recording ★★★★★

"The composer and the Piatti Quartet have been working together for ten years, with a new line-up for 2nd violin and viola in the quartet in 2021. They also commissioned and premiered his first quartet. The London-based quartet has a soft spot for modern compositions, especially those by Phibbs. For them, his music is among the most challenging they have recorded because of its crystalline clarity. For them, this circumstance creates difficulties in the realization. However, they master these challenges with technical finesse and deepening verve in their performance, so that they intensively explore and present the life-affirming and sometimes downright lively movements, without failing to characterize the passages with lyrical warmth and rich playing." pizzicato [read complete review]

"The four members of the Piatti Quartet, who have worked with Phibbs over many years, are kindred spirits, and their playing reflects this. The composer seems, in these works, to be on a quest for a sancta sanctorum. Agreeably closely recorded, the music is never overly complex, nor is it discordantly avant-garde." Rob Barnett, musicweb-international.com [read complete review]

"…The composer’s touchstone here, a querulous beauty, has a remote enchantment about it. A dance of the heavenly spirits casts a sideways glance at Hovhaness in his more recessed moments.

The four members of the Piatti Quartet, who have worked with Phibbs over many years, are kindred spirits, and their playing reflects this. The composer seems, in these works, to be on a quest for a sancta sanctorum. Agreeably closely recorded, the music is never overly complex, nor is it discordantly avant-garde.

If you like the music of Valentin Silvestrov, Arvo Pärt or Marjan Mozetich, be reassured: you are on a related pilgrimage with these works.” Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

 "The primordial value —which is not little— of a work results from the effort of having gathered time to work with the musicians who have to perform it. This is what the English composer and cellist Joseph Phibbs did with the Piatti Quartet, among the best of his generation, for several years. Working in a team is always a model of behavior for musicians, an almost familiar and enthusiastic practice. This recording of Phibbs' second, third and fourth string quartets has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the Richard Thomas Foundation...The author is an admirer of Benjamin Britten: his works, especially those for strings, have inspired him all his life. Against this background, he composed the String Quartet No. 2 in four movements, which evokes passages of mystery and tension that go straight to the listener's heart. The String Quartet No. 3, in five movements, was written three years later. Phibbs vibrates with the sounds of nature, and his music emerges in the form of whispers, dialogues, short and unusually fast themes that make up fascinating sounds. Quartet No. 4 is a mystical work, full of changing textures and soft reflective melodies. The work comprises a sequence of short pieces of characters. The repeated notes of the first movement form an underlying texture that acts as a backdrop to a series of contrasting themes that appear in the following movements. Joseph Phibbs is a composer who works with delicacy as a means of his musical expressiveness; Its complex constructions maximise the idiomatic (and attractive) play between the four musicians of the quartet." Joseph Bosch, Sonogram Magazine

"...His music is often inspired by light and landscapes, including cityscapes. The quartets consist of four or five contrasting movements, each of which develops its own colors. His music is discreetly modern and always varied. There is a hint of film music in the first movement of the fourth quartet, while the first movement of the third quartet, dedicated to his teacher Steven Stucky, offers a rich allegro with the subtitle ‘Illuminations’ as an allusion to both the city lights and Britten’s work of the same name. Thus, listening to the music offers ever new charming stimuli and no monotony in perception...

The composer and the Piatti Quartet have been working together for ten years, with a new line-up for 2nd violin and viola in the quartet in 2021. They also commissioned and premiered his first quartet. The London-based quartet has a soft spot for modern compositions, especially those by Phibbs. For them, his music is among the most challenging they have recorded because of its crystalline clarity. For them, this circumstance creates difficulties in the realization. However, they master these challenges with technical finesse and deepening verve in their performance, so that they intensively explore and present the life-affirming and sometimes downright lively movements, without failing to characterize the passages with lyrical warmth and rich playing."  Pizzicato

"I really enjoyed these quartets and look forward to hearing more of Phibbs’s music: it is the kind of unshowy, well-composed and memorable writing which doesn’t grab attention but rewards it. The Piatti Quartet repay the composer’s confidence in them with strong and committed performances, and the recording is excellent. Those who care for string quartets should explore these works." Stephen Barber, MusicWeb International