Description

This new recording with the Alcan String Quartet offers a sampling of the rich and culturally diverse contemporary music written for string quartet.Composer José Evangelista is perhaps best-known for many works that explore his Spanish heritage, Spanish Garland being one of his quintessential works. This recording also includes music by Russian composer Airat Ichmouratov, by Italian composers Dimitri Nicolau and Alessandro Annunziata—who both turn to Greece for inspiration. Paquito D’Rivera’s Wapango is an Afro-Mexican dance, and music by Uruguay native Miguel Del Aguila combines 1920s jazz, Caribbean and Latin elements in Presto II.

The Alcan Quartet is active in Canada and internationally. The ensemble’s list of accomplishments is impressive: over 1000 concerts; numerous live radio broadcasts (Radio-Canada, CBC, Radio France, and Denmark National Radio); tours throughout North America, Europe, and Asia; and a number of commissioned pieces and first performances.