Reviews

“Written in 2007 and revised in 2024 (one assumes in connection with this recording), the Danses presents a sequence of movements designed to be in historical sequence. No Overture; instead, a “Rigaudon,” a form especially popular with Rameau. There are some folkish tinges to the writing (the dance was originally from southern France); a central section is in slower tempo, with a really quite slinky and seductive melody. The Tippett Quartet’s performance is exemplary; the players capture the melancholy of the “Sarabanda (quasi ciaccona)” well, too. Rose takes the Franco-Germanic style of sarabande married to the chaconne’s ongoing variations in a format of theme and seven variations (the second and third are repeated as a single cell). The third movement is a “Walzer.” This is a sonata-form waltz, but a neutered sonata form: there are none of the vital key relationships between the various areas. I do like the way Rose overlaps and segments material at the movement’s close: it feels quite Bartókian. We move closer to our own times, then, with a Tango (quasi habanera), like the second movement a clever combination or juxtaposition of two forms. It is a lot of fun, and the members of the Tippett Quartet certainly seem to enjoy themselves, accents characterfully thrust at the listener. On, then, to a Blue Foxtrot, which in its title acknowledges the intertwining roles of the foxtrot and blues. It is very cleverly, neatly composed, including a set of seven “variants” (including an imitation of the banjo by the violins). The final Invention refers to “an original product of the imagination implying no particular musical characteristics.” It is the spirit of dance that is celebrated; and the Tippett Quartet delivers a notably light-of-foot account. Fragments of previous dances are incorporated into Rose’s fabric. It is all very clever, and Rose could not ask for a better performance”

“The Danses pour Quatuor, Op. 25 (dating originally from 2007, but revised in 2024), are a contemporary take on the Baroque suite. The opening Rigaudon, albeit in A-B-A form, is unusual. At the outset the scoring reminded me texturally of Stravinsky’s writing for string quartet, but that similarity soon dissipated, never to return. What we get instead are a series of witty pastiches of these disparate dance forms. The variation formatting in the “quasi ciaccona”-influenced sarabande is skillfully handled, and the Latin and jazz elements of the fourth and fifth movements creatively perpetuate the droll humor on display throughout the suite.”

“Danses pour Quatuor has a live, fresh quality that holds your attention whether a particular passage is tonal or spiced with dissonance. If more widely heard, it has the potential for enthusiastic audience response.”

“Beautifully wrought and memorable music. Congratulations!”

“I was immediately struck by how well Rose writes for string players”

"The design succeeds in all essentials undemonstratively attaining a high level of achievement."

“the writing is colorful and transparent throughout. His gift for beguiling melody is a decided asset. All of the dances are highly satisfying. The charming, seductive Tango could hold its own as a delightful encore.”

“I enjoyed listening to the “Danses” which I found clever and engaging”

“Danses pour quatuor was composed in 2007 and revised in 2024. It is a reimagining of dances from a wide range of eras. The piece is charming, inventive, witty, and beautiful.”

“In string quartet number four his thematic material is warm and often heartfelt. Whether he uses melody or quasi-melody, the lyrical intent is unmissable. Rose has a gift for development/transformation without losing the thread. I can offer the warmest recommendation.”

“Beautifully wrought and memorable music. Congratulations!”

"a subtle, nuanced work of absolute music (whose) five movements, including a hefty finale, need and repay repeated listening. Excellent performances and superb sound set the seal on a quietly revelatory release."

“both the foundational material and its instrumental settings abound with elegance. The positive attributes of Danses pour Quatuor join forces with inventive thematic development.”

“Much more recent, the fourth string quartet (2024) is unmoored from Baroque or dance-form influences and represents a kind of melodically enhanced homage to the Bartókian string quartet model. Developmental procedures are fused with the English pastoral tradition.

But whether the inspiration is gamboling or endless melody, this music never wears out its welcome. Everything receives highly accomplished and sympathetic performances from the Tippett Quartet. Highly recommended.”

“The Fourth Quartet is absolute music and in its five-movement arch form again references Bartók. The first five measures of the score are reproduced as part of the product (behind the disc itself). The pacing of this Andante in this recording is perfect and the Tippett Quartet realizes Rose’s idea of the second subject group occupying a different “plane,” a higher register, superbly. A formal feint is to present a false recapitulation that actually is a continuation of the ongoing development. This is music that rewards close attention, sometimes veering into a sort of tenderly haunting space. A tripartite scherzo follows, an Allegretto with waltz-like tendencies, suavely delivered here. At the heart of the piece, though, is the Adagio, the central pivot based around a four-note ascending motif. The movement owes much to late Beethoven in its fragile, slow unfolding (all credit to the Tippett Quartet for sustaining this). This is fine music indeed, unhurried, even transcendent at times. The fourth movement, an Allegro, sort of extricates itself from the Adagio, as if pulling up its socks, a scherzo, but a lighter one than the first. Staccato is beautifully done here by the upper instruments, while Rose’s melodic invention, whether in the mercurial upper or the slower-moving lower voices, seems at its height. A Moderato finale might in itself imply Shostakovich, perhaps. Intended as a “counterblance” to the preceding four movements, Rose here uses a doctored fugue (no exposition in which all four voices give the subject). This is more like a skeleton of a fugue, and very effective for it. Each section is heard in a different key area and is demarcated via its characteristics, bringing in a touch of variation form to the mix. It does work well; the effect here is of a satisfyingly demanding work that holds much coherence.

Lawrence Rose’s music is clearly well worth investigation. The Tippett Quartet can do no wrong.”

“Rose describes the very recent Fourth String Quartet from 2024 as “absolute music, the essence of which is organic growth through development or transformation.” He points out the quartet’s overall arch-like shape, which was influenced by Bartók. The idiom is more austere and dramatic than in the Danses, but Rose’s gift for melody is apparent throughout. It is strong enough to sustain interest for the entire 37-minute length.

The first movement demonstrates the composer’s skill in balancing elements of tension and release. It is followed without pause by an Allegretto that recalls a slow waltz but which varies the rhythms to keep you on your toes. This flows directly into the third movement, an Adagio, which strikes me as the emotional core of the piece. It begins with touching lyricism, and slowly Rose increases the intensity until reaching a dissonant climax (a similar shape to Barber’s Adagio for Strings). The fourth movement is a brief, delicate scherzo-like Allegro, and the quartet ends with the longest movement, a 10-minute fugue that is alternately dramatic and calm.

Here, adding the deeply committed and communicative performances by the Tippet Quartet along with the well-balanced recorded sound, you have a disc that I can recommend with enthusiasm.”

“A master of unconventional form taking only the broadest of cues from the seven-movement continuity of Beethoven’s Op. 131 String Quartet, Rose sacrificed composing for the law but has since made up for lost time. Like most composers when they took up the piano trio form he has much to lament, in this case USA shootings and war crimes in Syria which lie behind the cumulative elegy of the final movement. Despite that, and constant reference to a Passacaglia theme, the essence is mercurial, sometimes even playful, and the light which shines through allows the work to end in peace. It’s certainly a richly wrought and fascinating addition to the piano trio repertoire.”

“The work is cast in seven movements, with anticipatory or recollective links drawing these into a cohesive yet intentionally non-seamless whole. Most impressive are the second-movement passacaglia with its combative dialogue for strings and piano, then the final Largo, whose elegiac intensity pointedly underlines those mass shootings and war crimes such as provided the creative spur.”

“[it] is a remarkable and almost seamless transition between the Romantic idioms of Smetana and Rachmaninoff. He modeled the work in seven continuous movements, citing Beethoven’s String Quartet, op. 131, as a precedent, although unlike Beethoven, Rose provides linking music between the movements. There’s a good deal of scrupulous craftsmanship at work employing traditional forms like the fugue and passacaglia, circular returns to previous material, solos for each instrument, and a general sense of close joinery. Contrast is provided by the 12 tempo indications as the music shifts in mood and speed. The fourth movement, marked Adagietto, is “an extended wistfully lyrical and at times passionately elegiac centerpiece to the whole work.

Form has little to do with emotion, and where Rose succeeds best is in his ability to connect emotionally with the listener. His themes display a gift for melody, and he makes dramatic use of instrumental color. The result is unexpectedly successful—unexpected because one feels that this must be a Russian work, so closely aligned with Shostakovich in dramatic variety and Rachmaninoff for passionate elegy that the connection seems undeniable. However, no mention of any influences is provided in the program notes, so I can only judge by ear. In any event, the work is a triumph of traditionalism without a trace of tiredness or routine.”

“this is well considered and lies beautifully for the instruments. Rose is certainly a composer to look out for, gaining reputation with every composition. It has been a joy working alongside him.”

“In her introductory comments, included in the CD’s liner notes, Jenkinson relates that upon receiving the score of the Rose Cello Sonata, she “immediately spotted similarities between his sonata and that by Shostakovich, and thought they would together form a good CD pairing.” Indeed, the similarities will, I think, be apparent to anyone who listens to this recording. Both sonatas are in four movements. An angular opening movement leads to a playful, ironic scherzo, followed by an extended and emotionally searching slow-tempo movement. The finales of each attempt to resolve the conflict of previous movements, but perhaps not in entirely convincing fashion. That approach to finales is certainly a Shostakovich trademark. In the case of the final movement of the Rose Sonata, an extended, introspective episode capped by the brief, manic closing bars, brought to my mind the parallel sequence in the Elgar Cello Concerto. Both the Rose and Shostakovich Sonatas embrace a Neoclassical esthetic. In his liner notes on the works, Rose mentions Shostakovich’s acknowledgement of the influence of Stravinsky in his Cello Sonata. Rose, too embraces that influence in his sonata, particularly in the second movement scherzo, with its striking echoes of L’histoire du soldat. Rose and Shostakovich both explore the cello’s expressive potential, particularly in its middle and lower registers. I don’t want to give the impression that the Rose Cello Sonata is in any way an imitation of the Shostakovich. Each composer speaks in his own individual voice. And it’s no small compliment, I think, to say that in this recording, the Rose Cello Sonata justifies its place alongside the Shostakovich. I appreciate the opportunity this CD gave me to hear the music of Rose, a self-trained composer who practiced law before devoting himself entirely to music, beginning in 2001. I look forward to listening to more of his works.

Jenkinson’s introduction, the artist bios, and Rose’s excellent program notes all enhance this first-rate production. A worthy project and one, I think, that merits your attention; recommended.”

“full of dissonance from the very first note and plays on dissonance throughout. This is not to say that the music is vapid or uninteresting; on the contrary, it is full of interesting ideas. I particularly liked the second movement with its insistent march rhythm, allied to rising and falling chromatic passages. All in all it’s a very clever piece.”

“Although the sonata follows a similar movement trajectory to that of the Shostakovich, Rose’s music owes more to Hindemith’s angular style. The invention is fluent.”

“sublime.”

“The string writing was very well-written indeed! Everything was very logical and we enjoyed the interplay between parts.”

“You compose with an impressively confident and clear voice. I can express nothing but admiration for your continued achievement.”

“wonderful music”

“Everything seems to grow organically from the beginning with a lot of variety in it and a lot of open-air atmosphere – quite an achievement.”

“Terrific”

“I find it to be a fantastic work. Each movement has a special character” but “it also tells a longer story. The string and brass writing are especially lovely and there are also some great moments in the percussion” and of the piano trio: “I loved the piece. There are so many beautiful moments. It’s a wonderful work.”

“the feeling of listening to the whole is one of incremental but satisfying progression, a large picture slowly coming into focus – an attractive and original contribution to the fantasia genre.”

“there is clearly craft and skill in the writing – a wholly enjoyable work. The individual movements share musical and aesthetic material across the entire work in a way that binds the whole together very effectively.”

“the musical effects and the rhythmic combinations surely will capture the audience’s attention and they will enjoy every second of this composition.”

“I have recorded and performed Rose’s string quartet and piano trio. He is a thoughtful composer who takes great care of the details and I have enjoyed playing his colourful, imaginative and original pieces. His music is fresh and always interesting and he understands how to get the best out of instruments in terms of texture and colour.”

“Lawrence Rose is able to write beautiful long lyrical lines and takes advantage of the entire range of the instrument he’s writing for”

"Both compositions show a keen understanding of writing for strings and the sense of community and dialogue so essential in the best quartet-writing."