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Illuminations / Avalon String Quartet
Cedille

Illuminations / Avalon String Quartet

$9.99
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Details

Composer
DEBUSSY BRITTEN GARROP
Artist
AVALON STRING QUARTET
Format
CD
Label
Cedille
Released
Aug 14, 2015
Catalog #
CDR 156
UPC
735131915625

About

The Avalon String Quartet, “a remarkably fine ensemble” (The Strad), makes its Cedille Records debut with an irresistible and richly varied program of captivating works by Claude Debussy, Benjamin Britten, Osvaldo Golijov, and rising American composer Stacy Garrop. The ensemble presents the world-premiere recording of Garrop’s String Quartet No. 4: Illuminations, a tantalizing, Pictures at an Exhibition-style tour of spectacular illustrations from an ornate medieval manuscript. Debussy’s lush, exotic String Quartet in G minor unfolds through iridescent quasi-orchestral textures. Golijov’s lyrical, deeply moving Tenebrae (Latin for “shadows”), written for the Kronos Quartet, pays tender tribute to the earth, depicted in its remote celestial beauty, haunted by undertones of human discord. Britten’s youthful, energetic Three Divertimenti and Alla Marcia are alluring, rarely recorded studies in inventiveness and perpetual motion.

The Avalon is quartet-in-residence at the Northern Illinois University School of Music. “…an ensemble that invites you — ears, mind, and spirit — into its music.” (Chicago Tribune)

REVIEW:

The folks at Cedille seem to have mastered the art of putting together classical music collections that make good musical sense. Debussy’s String Quartet is, of course, standard fare, and it usually appears in tandem with the Ravel and something else French. Not here. Instead, we have two Britten rarities, the entertaining Three Divertimenti and the lone Alla Marcia (the first of the Divertimenti is also a march, so you can see the logic), a self-described “Pictures at an Exhibition” type piece by Stacy Garrop, and a moving conclusion in the form of Osvaldo Golijov’s single-movement Tenebrae. The entire program provides consistently interesting and entertaining continuous listening, and the sonics are drop-dead gorgeous.

So, for that matter, is the playing of the Avalon String Quartet. The group’s corporate sonority is warm and mellow, but with just a touch of “rosin” in the tone. They attack rhythmic moments such as the scherzo of the Debussy, the Burlesque and the marches in the Britten pieces, and Garrop’s musically impossibly named “Mouth of Hell” with plenty of guts and precision, but no unpleasant hardness in the tone. The slow music is simply luminous. I am not generally a fan of pseudo-religious programmatic stuff such as Garrop offers here, but it’s awfully well done, and the booklet provides well-produced, full-color reproductions of the illustrations from the late medieval Book of Hours that Garrop took as her inspiration. They are exquisite, as is much of Garrop’s writing more generally.

Here, in short, is another excellent program that chamber music fans looking to venture off the beaten path will surely relish.

- ClassicsToday.com (10/10)

Tracklist 18 tracks

  1. 1 I. Animé et tres decide 06:26
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Animé et tres decide
    Duration
    06:26
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Ensemble
    Avalon String Quartet
  2. 2 II. Assez vif et bien rythme 03:46
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. Assez vif et bien rythme
    Duration
    03:46
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Ensemble
    Avalon String Quartet
  3. 3 III. Andantino doucement expressif 07:34
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. Andantino doucement expressif
    Duration
    07:34
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Ensemble
    Avalon String Quartet
  4. 4 IV. Tres modéré 07:17
    Track
    4
    Title
    IV. Tres modéré
    Duration
    07:17
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Ensemble
    Avalon String Quartet
  5. 5 No. 1. March: Allegro maestoso 03:40
    Track
    5
    Title
    No. 1. March: Allegro maestoso
    Duration
    03:40
    Composer
    Benjamin Britten
    Ensemble
    Avalon String Quartet
  6. 6 No. 2. Waltz: Allegretto 03:04
    Track
    6
    Title
    No. 2. Waltz: Allegretto
    Duration
    03:04
    Composer
    Benjamin Britten
    Ensemble
    Avalon String Quartet
  7. 7 No. 3. Burlesque: Presto 03:27
    Track
    7
    Title
    No. 3. Burlesque: Presto
    Duration
    03:27
    Composer
    Benjamin Britten
    Ensemble
    Avalon String Quartet
  8. 8 Alla marcia 03:19
    Track
    8
    Title
    Alla marcia
    Duration
    03:19
    Composer
    Benjamin Britten
    Ensemble
    Avalon String Quartet
  9. 9 I. The Book of Hours is opened 01:40
    Track
    9
    Title
    I. The Book of Hours is opened
    Duration
    01:40
    Composer
    Stacy Garrop
    Ensemble
    Avalon String Quartet
  10. 10 II. Catherine of Cleves prays to the Virgin and Child 03:45
    Track
    10
    Title
    II. Catherine of Cleves prays to the Virgin and Child
    Duration
    03:45
    Composer
    Stacy Garrop
    Ensemble
    Avalon String Quartet
  11. 11 III. Singing Angels 01:24
    Track
    11
    Title
    III. Singing Angels
    Duration
    01:24
    Composer
    Stacy Garrop
    Ensemble
    Avalon String Quartet
  12. 12 IV. Interlude: Book of Hours 00:39
    Track
    12
    Title
    IV. Interlude: Book of Hours
    Duration
    00:39
    Composer
    Stacy Garrop
    Ensemble
    Avalon String Quartet
  13. 13 V. Christ carrying the Cross 02:52
    Track
    13
    Title
    V. Christ carrying the Cross
    Duration
    02:52
    Composer
    Stacy Garrop
    Ensemble
    Avalon String Quartet
  14. 14 VI. Interlude: Book of Hours 00:42
    Track
    14
    Title
    VI. Interlude: Book of Hours
    Duration
    00:42
    Composer
    Stacy Garrop
    Ensemble
    Avalon String Quartet
  15. 15 VII. Mouth of Hell 03:05
    Track
    15
    Title
    VII. Mouth of Hell
    Duration
    03:05
    Composer
    Stacy Garrop
    Ensemble
    Avalon String Quartet
  16. 16 VIII. Trinity Enthroned 03:19
    Track
    16
    Title
    VIII. Trinity Enthroned
    Duration
    03:19
    Composer
    Stacy Garrop
    Ensemble
    Avalon String Quartet
  17. 17 IX. The Book of Hours is closed 01:59
    Track
    17
    Title
    IX. The Book of Hours is closed
    Duration
    01:59
    Composer
    Stacy Garrop
    Ensemble
    Avalon String Quartet
  18. 18 Tenebrae (version for string quartet) 12:42
    Track
    18
    Title
    Tenebrae (version for string quartet)
    Duration
    12:42
    Composer
    Osvaldo Golijov
    Ensemble
    Avalon String Quartet