Louis Andriessen

This disc includes all the music for string quartet written by Louis Andriessen, recorded by the Schoenberg Quartet in the years before the group dissolved in 2009. Even in the early Quartet in two movements, written when Andriessen was 18, the composer's inventiveness and quirky sense of humor peek through. It's an affable piece, entirely professional and assured, with enough individuality to be recognizably the work of a composer who has something to say and the wherewithal to say it.

Dutch composer Louis Andriessen turned minimalism upside down in the 1970's with his exciting and overpoweringly aggressive sounds. Earth-shattering and tribal in its elemental power, three of Andriessen's classics are now on one disc. Reissuing "Hoketus" and "Hout," plus a new blistering recording of "Workers Union," this disc is an international collaboration of the Bang on a Can All-Stars, members of London's Icebreaker ensemble, and musicians from Andriessen's own group.

elp1983