Daryl Runswick - String Quartets (Avir Quartet)

Information

Composer: Daryl Runswick

1. String Quartet No. 2
2. String Quartet in F, Op. Juv.: I. Allegro energico
3. String Quartet in F, Op. Juv.: II. Scherzo
4. String Quartet in F, Op. Juv.: III. Tranquillo
5. String Quartet in F, Op. Juv.: IV. Allegro molto

Avir Quartet

    Andrew John Liddell, violin

    Virág Hévisi, violin

    Ivan Illingworth, viola

    Rebecca Burden, cello

Date: 2026

Label: Prima Facie

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Daryl Runswick’s two string quartets, composed over fifty years apart, highlight a profound artistic evolution from conventional form to radical avant-garde experimentation. His First Quartet, written in 1967 as a precocious 20-year-old student, adopts a traditional, Beethovenian four-movement structure infused with jazz elements and playful musical quotations ranging from blues to "God Save The King." In stark contrast, his unconventional Second Quartet (2020) challenges performance norms with interchangeable instrumental parts, intricate retrogrades, and inversions. Utilizing "accidental counterpoints" and player-chosen melodic fragments, this late-career masterpiece creates timeless, floating textures and structurally embedded silence that redefine the boundaries of chamber music.

Daryl Runswick (born 1946) is a versatile British composer, performer, and educator whose career uniquely bridges the gap between structured concert music and fluid jazz improvisation. Educated at Cambridge University and Ronnie Scott’s Club, Runswick's extensive background spans free improvisation, pop, film/TV scoring, and avant-garde performance, notably collaborating with both Ornette Coleman and John Cage. This artistic duality defined his roles as an improvising pianist, singer, and bassist. As the former Head of Composition at London's Trinity College of Music, Runswick has spent decades successfully synthesizing the spontaneous, intuitive skills of jazz with highly complex classical architectures.

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