Robert Simpson

The choral works of Duruflé, like his organ works, are small in number but beautifully crafted. Frequently written and rewritten until he was completely satisfied, he was a composer who rethought and re-configured his music right up to the moment he had to let go of it. Often described as a man out of step with his times, his pieces look back to Gregorian chant and plainsong at a time when the musical life of his home city of Paris was steeped in radical new compositional ideas – a testament perhaps to Duruflé’s enduring love of France’s choral heritage.

Fed up with endless Bach recordings this year? Hyperion have added some variation to all of the releases for the 250th anniversary of Bach's death by recording Robert Simpson's arrangement of the well-known Art of Fugue for string quartet. The Art of Fugue has been arranged for many media, even for orchestra, but Simpson believed it was essential that the four parts should retain their identities throughout (not possible with colourful orchestral mixtures), and saw the string quartet as the ideal medium for conveying the beauty of four-part counterpoint with perfect clarity and sensitivity.

'When it comes to recordings of British string quartets there've been few more impressive achievements than Hyperion's Robert Simpson cycle' (BBC Record Review)
'All of Robert Simpson's quartets are worth hearing. Don't ask for a recommendation of where to start! But do start, somewhere' (Fanfare)

'When it comes to recordings of British string quartets there've been few more impressive achievements than Hyperion's Robert Simpson cycle' (BBC Record Review)
'All of Robert Simpson's quartets are worth hearing. Don't ask for a recommendation of where to start! But do start, somewhere' (Fanfare)

'When it comes to recordings of British string quartets there've been few more impressive achievements than Hyperion's Robert Simpson cycle' (BBC Record Review)
'All of Robert Simpson's quartets are worth hearing. Don't ask for a recommendation of where to start! But do start, somewhere' (Fanfare)

'When it comes to recordings of British string quartets there've been few more impressive achievements than Hyperion's Robert Simpson cycle' (BBC Record Review)
'All of Robert Simpson's quartets are worth hearing. Don't ask for a recommendation of where to start! But do start, somewhere' (Fanfare)

'When it comes to recordings of British string quartets there've been few more impressive achievements than Hyperion's Robert Simpson cycle' (BBC Record Review)
'All of Robert Simpson's quartets are worth hearing. Don't ask for a recommendation of where to start! But do start, somewhere' (Fanfare)

'When it comes to recordings of British string quartets there've been few more impressive achievements than Hyperion's Robert Simpson cycle' (BBC Record Review)
'All of Robert Simpson's quartets are worth hearing. Don't ask for a recommendation of where to start! But do start, somewhere' (Fanfare)

'When it comes to recordings of British string quartets there've been few more impressive achievements than Hyperion's Robert Simpson cycle' (BBC Record Review)
'All of Robert Simpson's quartets are worth hearing. Don't ask for a recommendation of where to start! But do start, somewhere' (Fanfare)