Don Satz mentioned:

>20th Century Norwegian String Quartets performed by the Oslo String Quartet
>for Naxos.  Composers include Valen, Egge, Kvandal, and Janson.  Let's hear
>it for Norway!

I'm very impressed by the Kvandal String Quartet No 3, which is the longest
work on the CD.  Annoyingly, it reminds me of something but I can't place
what - Martinu, perhaps.  In places, there are echoes of Shostakovich, but
for the most part it's individual as well as musical.  I've not come across
Kvandal's music before - is any more of it recorded?

IMO the Egge String Quartet No 1 is also well worth hearing, although it's
in an unlikely mix of styles.  Different parts of it sounded like Vaughan
Williams, Schoenberg and Bartok.  The individual movements are good, and
they seem (just about) to fit together as a coherent work.

The two shorter works weren't so interesting.  I found the Valen String
Quartet No 2 bland - it was pleasant enough in an inoffensive way, but
unmemorable.  I didn't understand the Janson String Quartet at all - maybe
there's something there that I'm missing, but it seemed to take far too
long to get going and it wasn't worth the wait.

Overall, though, the CD is worth getting for the two main works on it.

Peter Varley
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