String Quartet No. 3
third movement only · Sylvestrov-a-thon · Part 6: String Quartets with The Rhythm Method
Performed by The Rhythm Method (String quartet)
George Rochberg
1918–2005 · United States
George Rochberg (1918–2005) was an American composer born in Paterson, New Jersey, to Ukrainian immigrant parents. After an early career as one of America’s leading serialists, he broke with the avant-garde in the 1960s, following the death of his son in 1964, and turned to a language that openly embraced tonality and the music of the past. His String Quartet No. 3 (1971), written for the Concord Quartet, is the most vivid statement of that turn — a parallel to Sylvestrov’s own change of direction in the 1970s. He taught for many years at the University of Pennsylvania.