Meyer: Quintet / Rorem: String Quartet No. 4
We get so little from Rorem these days that whenever anything appears, it's worth noting. Here, his String Quartet 4 (1994) is more acerbic than anything he's done; it's also more emotionally expressive. In it, though, you can hear the neo-Romantic core of his being. Small themes and moments of melody emerge, despite the clamor. Meyer's contribution to this release is the very beautiful Quintet (1995), for string quartet and double bass (which gets several nice boogie-woogie passages all on its lonesome). The Meyer clearly has more humor than the Rorem, but the merits of both are worth your time.--Paul Cook