- Date: 1984
- Composer: Ellen Taaffe Zwilich
- Period: Modern (1910-1949)
Review
The Double Quartet was one of four works that Ellen Taaffe Zwilich composed in 1984, the year after she won the Pulitzer Prize for music (the first ever awarded to a woman) for her First Symphony. The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center both commissioned the Double Quartet and gave it its first performance on October 21, 1984.The four-movement work begins with a tense, aggressive Allegro moderato reminiscent of many of the chamber works of Dmitry Shostakovich. The tension doesn't relent in either the dark second movement (Lento) or the restless third (Allegro vivo). This third movement, which functions as a scherzo, has a slow, intense central section surrounded by faster music in which short melodic phrases repeat and give the music its momentum. The almost static final movement (Adagio) unfolds a dissonant chorale-like melody, eventually resolving into a calm conclusion in D major. ~ Chris Morrison, All Music Guide
Albums with Complete Performances of the Work
| Title | Date |
| Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Symbolon; Concerto Grosso; Double Quartet; Trumpet Concerto | 1989 |
