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The Milton Quartet (a.k.a. Sherry Quartet) was formed
in 2000 at New York's Musical Observations workshop, in order to
learn and perform Milton Babbitt's dense and complex String Quartet
No. 6 (1993) under the tutelage of Paul Zukofsky, Fred Sherry, and
Babbitt himself; it is the only group in the world that currently
performs the work. Their world premiere recording of the work is
available on Tzadik records.
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New York Times
(September 4, 2000): The light in the quartet was particularly remarkable,
and how the musicians disported themselves in the open and often
high-lying counterpoint...the quartet seemed to dance.
New York Times (February 5, 2002): Quite remarkable...The
airy textures were beautifully realized, and there was a nice feeling
for the quick unravellings that happen inside many of the work's small
sections, as well as for the sustained unity of tone and the
distinctive utter calm with which Mr. Babbitt's music proceeds...These
musicians understood Mr. Babbitt's music very much as he did.
New York Times (January 11, 2004 -- CD review): The quartet
performance is a joy. With impeccable tuning, timing, and precision of
color and phrasing, the Sherry Quartet, four young players coached by
the cellist Fred Sherry, shows the way through a labyrinth in which one
essential melodic and harmonic idea is endlessly rediscovered in new
forms. Near the start it sounds like Dvorak. More often, as the slide
into overt tonality seems just about to happen, the work drifts into
new textures (often with the violins in the glistening high treble) and
new gestures of almost operatic emphasis...a marvelous performance.
Milton Babbitt: A truly collaborative ensemble of individual
virtuosities and musical dispositions, with a collective awareness of what
music-making has been and, therefore, can be in the making of music for
our time, of our time, and beyond.
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