R. Murray Schafer: 12 String Quartets

Featuring

Odile Portugais
Olga Ranzenhofer
Frédéric Bednarz
Frédéric Lambert
Pierre-Alain Bouvrette
Raymond Murray Schafer

Quatuor Molinari

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Performer Biography

The Molinari Quartet, founded in 1997, is dedicated to performing 20th and 21st-century string quartet repertoire and commissioning new works.

Composition History

R. Murray Schafer's string quartets have been significantly influenced by the Molinari Quartet, which has commissioned and premiered four of his last six quartets.

Compositional Technique

The quartets on this album, Nos. 8 through 12, are linked by numerous relationships in both musical material and expression, creating a cyclic effect for the listener.

Interpretation

The Molinari Quartet often performs several of Schafer's quartets in a single concert, sometimes even marathons, to highlight the cyclic form of his overall work.

Performer Biography

The Molinari Quartet hosts an international composition competition, which has received over 650 new quartet scores from 65 countries in its first five editions.

Composer's Artistic Vision

R. Murray Schafer views his string quartets as distinct entities that share a "family look," a characteristic noted by Olga Ranzenhofer of the Molinari Quartet.

Performer Biography

The Molinari Quartet has been described by Canadian critics as an "essential" and "prodigious" ensemble, even "Canada's answer to the Kronos or Arditti Quartet."