Arrangement of songs with string quartet

This year, we are fortunate that Gabriel Kahane is visiting the University of Iowa several times and meeting with the composers. Given his experience with orchestral writing and arranging songs, we are excited that he is going to coach students on arrangements of songs for singer (optionally playing guitar or piano) and string quartet. Gabriel Kahane shares some of his ideas on arranging on this post, including some song examples.

Favorite arrangements featuring strings

Among my favorite song arrangments, I want to first highlight the work of Stefan Malzew for Ute Lempper. Their collaboration on the 2012 album Paris Days, Berlin Nights is masterful. In Stefan Malzew's string writing, we can hear his love not only for the songs but also for the string quartet and its history. Here are two excerpts:

First, two Kurt Weill songs: Surabaya Johnny, from Happy End and Die Moritat von Mackie Messer, from Die Dreigroschenoper (i.e. Mack the Knife, from The Threepenny Opera).

Second, the beautiful Oblivion, by Astor Piazzolla:

My favorite album by The Roots might be the 2014 ...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin. It includes wonderful string arrangements crafted by D. D. Jackson, as in the song The Coming:

From Jacques Brel to Scott Walker

String arrangements may seem special today, but at some point in the history of music, there was no electronics: any song was arranged to be accompanied by a small or large acoustic ensemble.

That's the case with the powerful songs of the Belgian star Jacques Brel. For instance, I like a lot the nice violin line in dialog with the voice in François Rauber's arrangement of Le prochain amour:

Scott Walker was a Brel fan and sang several of his songs, translated in English. The arrangements in his first albums were signed by Angela Morley under the name Wally Scott.

In the 1967 album Scott 2, hear Jackie, this English version of Jacques Brel's Jacky:

In the 1969 album Scott 3, I love the colors of It's Raining Today:

Finally, in the same album, let's hear If you go away, a version of Jacques Brel's "hit" Ne me quitte pas:

Other flavors

A well-known arrangement of a pop song featuring strings is The Beatles's Eleanor Rigby (follow this link for a version with the score transcription).

Prince has worked throughout his career with arranger Clare Fischer. Their first collaboration dates back to The Family's album in 1985. Listen to The Screams of Passion:

Rosalía's 2025 album Lux includes several arrangements penned by composer Caroline Shaw. Here is the second track of the album, Reliquia:

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