Pekka Kuusisto, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra - Glass: String Quartet No. 3 "Mishima" (Arr. P. Kuusisto for Chamber Orchestra) (2022) [Hi-Res]

Violinist Pekka Kuusisto presents a new arrangement for string orchestra of Philip Glass’s String Quartet No. 3, which Glass derived from his epic film score Mishima. Pekka Kuusisto performs this new arrangement together with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, of which he is Artistic Director as of 2021.

Mishima String Quartet (String Quartet No. 3) originally appeared as parts of the film score for Mishima by film maker Paul Schrader. The film follows a complex narrative structure which divides the life of this famous contemporary Janpaeses novelist into 3 parts – his childhood, his mature years and the last day of his life. These subjects were intercut to produce a shifting kaleidoscopic vision of Mishima's life. The scenes of his childhood were filmed in black and white and scored for String Quartet. At the time of writing the film music, I anticipated the String Quartet section would be extracted form the film score and made into a concert piece in its own right.

Pekka Kuusisto, violin
Norwegian Chamber Orchestra