To commemorate the recent CD (and LP) acclaimed release of the first volume of the complete Piano Sonatas and String Quartets of Haratiu Radulescu by the JACK Quartet...

To commemorate the recent CD (and LP) acclaimed release of the first volume of the complete Piano Sonatas and String Quartets of Haratiu Radulescu by the JACK Quartet and pianist Stephen Clarke, Mode Records has commissioned 50 original paintings by artist Dorothea Kares, whose artwork adorns the original cover, to be enclosed in 50 specially numbered copies of the LP. Extremely limited edition - Kare's art will also be featured on future releases in the series.The first entry in the complete Piano Sonatas and String Quartets on Mode has been greeted with great critical acclaim and sales. In the 1970's, Horatiu Radulescu (1942-2008) began exploring and composing what he called "plasmatic music," in which sound was conceived as an "endless ocean of vibrations," as opposed to the traditional way in which music treats sound as a fabric of discrete scale steps. His music is linked to the "spectral" music" school. Radulescu's Fifth String Quartet is one of the key works in his output. It is in some ways the richest manifestation of the body of string techniques he had developed for his music. The Fifth Piano Sonata makes abundant use - more so than any of the other sonatas of Romanian folk material, which is absorbed and integrated into Radulescu's spectral language. The paintings, each an original work, are contained within the LP sleeve.