Leon Kirchner At 87

“He’s not, if you ask people, ‘Who are the major living composers who are alive?,’ on that list. People would say, ‘John Adams, Elliott Carter, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, William Bolcom.’ There’s a slew of people, but I don’t think they’d mention him. The reason, I think, is that there is something in his temperament and in his vision of what great music is that has made him not exactly a team player.”

A Surge In String Quartets

People have been predicting the death of chamber music for years. “Three decades later, not only has this apocalyptic view of the genre been averted, the field is flourishing. The industry support organization, Chamber Music America, claims more than 100 quartets as members, and it estimates that many more operate in the United States. While the classical music industry has had its struggles, the quartet genre is booming.”