Description

R. Murray Schafer’s quartets have featured prominently in the repertoire of the Molinari Quartet since its establishment in 1997. On numerous occasions the Molinari Quartet has played several quartets by Schafer in the same concert, sometimes even performing a marathon of the first seven quartets in a single evening. Played this way, as if each individual quartet was actually a single movement of a very long mega quartet, the cyclic form of the overall work becomes eloquently clear.

With this new disc of quartets 8 through 12, the listener can also experience this cyclic form; many relationships, both in material and in expression, link these works. Nonetheless, each is unique and stands alone and these quartets can be appreciated one at a time.

Internationally acclaimed by the public and the critics since its foundation in 1997, the Molinari Quartet has established a mandate to perform works from the 20th and 21st centuries, repertoire for string quartet, and to commission new works. Recipients of 14 Opus Prizes awarded by the Quebec Music Council, the Molinari Quartet is described by the critics as “Canada’s answer to the Kronos or Arditti Quartet.”