The title What Remains of String Quartet No. 4 (2019) by Joey Roukens can be understood in various ways. On a poetic level, the words correspond to the character of the music, which often seems to hark back to ‘something remaining’ from a previous era – ruins, ghosts, scraps or memories. This interpretation, both of the words and of the music itself, marked the beginning of the associative exploration that led to this album of the same title. A fascinatingly curated programme from the Dudok, drawing on music from the 13th, 14th and 16th centuries, with 20th century works by Messiaen and Reich, and into the 21st century with the work that provides the album’s title, the 4th String Quartet by Roukens, commissioned by the Dudok Quartet. Both Reich and Roukens’ music was influenced by Gregorian chant, and the early organum and polyphonic music that followed. Time, travel, locomotion – journeys through time and the memories of these journeys all come together on this thrilling new album from the Dudok Quartet, Amsterdam.

The Dudok Quartet Amsterdam is forging a reputation as one of the most creative and versatile quartets of its generation. The Guardian commented on their “lithe, lively sound and alert sense of structure and detail”. This recording, their first for Rubicon, of the Brahms Quartets and the second of the String Quintets for which they are joined by Finnish violist Lilli Maijala, will be eagerly awaited by their growing band of followers and chamber music fans generally. The quartet play with unwound gut strings and a set of bespoke classical bows.

“As a string quartet of the 21st Century, we are searching for the meaning of the music we perform. Our goal is to convey the image which emanates from the music in the most authentic way. As a kind of time-transcending minstrel, the Quartet is continuously searching for the best ways to reflect the music from the past, with a new meaning and for a contemporary audience” – Dudok Quartet, Amsterdam