Update Title: 59941EBC-2FC1-4CD3-85CD-AAF4FE8B3974

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From CD liner notes by Mark Yacovone: His second string quartet is titles "Speaking Extravagantly," which comes from the Charles Ives quote in Essays Before a Sonata, "Perhaps music is the art of speaking extravagantly." Written in 1981 and commissioned by the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society for the Cncord String Quartet, it was premiered by this illustrious ensemble in 1982. The Ives reference leads us to anticipate an adventure. A not too cautious darting in and out of ideas with a nod to that quirky New England mix of the transcendental, the pragmatic, and some ineffable force which contradicts each of these disciplines. It's Ives, of course. And if his spirit is going to permeate something, it is going to be a peripatetic journey.

The opening movement almost overwhelms us with extreme tempi variation. But there is a quality which reminds us that Mr. Stock is very much an American composer, and an inherent logic will not permit a journey without knowing the destination. There is some exquisite playiing from Curateto Latinoamericano which brings to life the chordal writing in this movement. Especially vibrant is the whirlwind violin interplay executed by Saul and Aron Bitran. Cuarteto has been in existence--with no change in personnel--since 1981. These four artist present a unified execution of ideas which frames their art.

The Scherzo second movement is unabashedly Bartokian. This is a hard driving reminder that the composer is a city boy, at ease with the urban soundscape. The concluding third movement is the gem of the piece. Its slowness is neither ponderous nor gushing. There are two subtle quotes--from Charles Ives's setting of the Ninetieth Psalm (God Be Merciful Unto Us) and the opening from Carl Ruggle's "Angels". Talk about referencing one's American roots. Ives and Ruggles were, indeed, "Roots" composers. And this is Stock's persona. The intense harmonic material is brought to full force. The culmination of meaning may be summed up in the composer's realization after the fact that this work was composed in memory of his father, who died in 1967. He relates how after the premiere, a person who had been a younger colleague of his father came up to him and said, "I know what that last movement was about." The somber, emotional language is made apparent in two wonderful solos--violist Javier Montiel and cellist Alvaro Bitran movingly capture the mood of this rapturous piece.

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