String Quartets

SFGATE
“… appealing and skillfully crafted … Beck writes in lush tonal harmonies … novelty isn’t the only thing music can provide, and the moody expressiveness of Beck’s writing is its own reward.” [FULL ARTICLE]
—Joshua Kosman

GRAMOPHONE
“… forceful and expressive. … [Beck’s] writing is concise in structure and generous in tonal language, savouring both the dramatic and the poetic. … [T]he Second Quartet … is a striking and intensely felt work.” [FULL ARTICLE]
—Donald Rosenberg

AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE
“Beck writes graciously and warmly for the string consort, and his quartets will likely appeal to most music lovers[.] … Quartet 4, in four well-contrasted movements, is the most melodic of the batch, with a soaring second theme in the opening allegro and a quite nice finale—a sort of valedictory prayer[.] … All the musicians do play with endearing and communicative involvement in Beck’s music.”
—Mark Lehman

KATHODIK
“It is often said that in string quartets, composers are able to explore the world of their most intimate feelings, their most hidden desires and thoughts. It’s not difficult to include Jeremy Beck in that, given his natural tendency to write music that is never excessive in presentation or bombastic in style. This CD from Innova, which contains four quartets composed by Beck between 1987 and 2006, splendidly performed by the Da Kappo String Quartet, proves much more than expected, adding the pleasant discovery of Beck’s particular affinity for the resonant articulation of the bow, from which he supports and amplifies its intrinsic potential, designing a weave that carries the four instruments at times to unite in vigorous unison, and at other times to open up into elegant and polyphonic arabesques.

“Another quality is the notable clarity and economy of the writing, even if it is the richness of details that, at the same time, are more easily appreciated. His talent is evident in all four quartets, but, it seems to me, the result is better in the second and fifth quartets, when Beck moderates the sometimes-excessive use of chromaticism, throwing a clear light on the nobility of the themes and on the rhythmic exuberance of the fast sections, with typically American straightforwardness/sincerity that is finally freed in all its expressive potential.” [FULL ARTICLE]
—Filippo Focosi (in translation)

AUDIOPHILE AUDITION
“…I found a lot to admire in these well-crafted pieces. They’re beautifully written for the four strings, and the players of three different ensembles—widely separated as to geography—seem to be equally moved by what Beck has given them to work with.” [FULL ARTICLE]
—Lee Passarella