IRCA (USA); Prix de l"Academie Charles Cros. KTC 2507 has been noted as a BBC Music Magazine Benchmark Recording for this repertoire. Elliott Carter is hailed as the "master quartet builder of our time". These astonishing quartets continue to impress - just as Carter has described his personal reaction to Bach"s cantatas, they are a central musical experience of the late twentieth-century. These recordings by the Arditti Quartet were made under the auspices of Elliott Carter himself. The Arditti Quartet enjoys a world-wide reputation for their spirited and technically refined interpretations of contemporary and earlier 20th century music. Several hundred works have been written for the ensemble since its foundation in 1974 which have left a permanent mark on 20th century repertoire and have given the Arditti Quartet a firm place in music history. The ensemble believes that close collaboration with composers is vital to the process of interpreting modern music and attempts to work with every composer it plays.