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Of All Joys
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Of All Joys
Current price: $14.99
Barnes and Noble
Of All Joys
Current price: $14.99
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The
offers a program here, perhaps unlike any other on the market: the group mixes minimalist pieces by
and
(whose two works were not explicitly string quartets but work well enough in that configuration) with Renaissance vocal polyphony, played only by the four instruments. One can debate whether the analogy being drawn here is valid. Renaissance motets do not have "harmonic rhythm" in the sense that the music of today has, but almost any listener will admit that the quartet has chosen its music carefully. The album was made during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the title comes from
's
("And tears and sighs and groans my weary days / of all joys have deprived"), surely an appropriate sentiment for this time, and the mood is consistently meditative (the fastest motion comes from
'
, to give an idea). What's cleverly done is that the Renaissance pieces have been selected to fit with the minimalist ones. The well-worn
is here but sounds fresh in this context. Other pieces, like
's madrigal
, are deliberate enough that they fit seamlessly with
. Overall, for late-night rumination, this program will fill the bill nicely, and
gives a beautiful churchlike but not church sound from the Sauder Concert Hall in Goshen, Indiana, one of the unsung acoustic treasures of the U.S. Midwest. ~ James Manheim