“…By the 1950’s fewer composers were writing for the string quartet, which had been overshadowed by more exotic ensembles. It began to seem as quaint as a Sunday afternoon chamber concert at the local church. It might have continued to languish but for the advocacy of two ensembles: the San Francisco-based Kronos Quartet, founded in 1973 by David Harrington, its first violinist; and the London-based Arditti Quartet, founded a year later by Irvine Arditti, the violinist involved in the Boulez exchange.

Passionate, unflagging champions of new music, the two groups have, between them, commissioned nearly a thousand works; that achievement alone should earn them a lasting place in music history. They have also inspired a wave of young string quartets that specialize in contemporary music, including Ethel and the Meridian and Flux Quartets in America, and the Brodsky, Keller and Balanescu Quartets in Europe. Not to mention the salutary impact they have had on the classical music scene as a whole, which has become a little less staid and a little more open.” —New York Times