String Quartet No. 3 (Rouse)

The String Quartet No. 3 is the third string quartet by the American composer Christopher Rouse. The work was jointly commissioned by the Festival of Arts and Ideas, the Calder Quartet, Chamber Music America, Carnegie Hall, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and the LaJolla Music Society. It was first performed at Yale University 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.
Composition.
Background.
The Calder Quartet had previously recorded Rouse's first and second string quartets and the group first approached the composer about a new commission in 2006. 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 "The New York Times" highly lauded the piece, remarking:
Christian Hertzog of "LA Weekly" similarly declared the work to be "the most exciting, take-no-prisoners quartet since George Crumb's "Black Angels" (1971), and it should become just as popular."