The String Quartet No. 3 is the third

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinist ...

by the American composer Christopher Rouse. The work was jointly commissioned by the

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, the

Calder Quartet The Calder Quartet (CQ) is a string quartet based in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1998 at the University of Southern California, the group takes its name from American sculptor Alexander Calder. The ensemble is currently composed of i ...

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, Carnegie Hall, the

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, and the LaJolla Music Society. It was first performed at

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on June 18, 2010 by the Calder Quartet, to whom the piece is dedicated. The composition has a duration of roughly 22 minutes and is composed in one continuous

movement Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

. Rouse, Christopher (2010)
String Quartet No. 3: Program Note by the Composer
Retrieved July 28, 2015.

Composition

Background

The Calder Quartet first approached Rouse about a new commission in 2006 after recording the composer's first and second string quartets. Rouse was unable to begin work on the piece for a couple of years, however, and completed the String Quartet No. 3 in 2009.

Style and inspiration

Rouse described the style and inspiration for the string quartet in the score program notes, writing: He continued: Rouse concluded, "The music is staggeringly difficult to play, and I believe this to be my most challenging and uncompromising work to date."

Reception

Steve Smith of ''

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'' highly lauded the piece, remarking: Christian Hertzog of ''

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'' similarly declared the work to be "the most exciting, take-no-prisoners quartet since

George Crumb George Henry Crumb Jr. (24 October 1929 – 6 February 2022) was an American composer of avant-garde contemporary classical music. Early in his life he rejected the widespread modernist usage of serialism, developing a highly personal musical ...

's '' Black Angels'' (1971), and it should become just as popular."

References

{{Christopher Rouse Rouse 3 2009 compositions Music commissioned by Carnegie Hall