The
Quatuor Arod
has demonstrated versatility in its catalog thus far, devoting albums in a range running from
Mendelssohn
to the Second Viennese School. The same versatility is present on this release. True, the
Debussy
String Quartet, Op. 10
, and the
Ravel
String Quartet in F major
are cut from the same cloth;
modeled his quartet on
's, but these works require a multiplicity of voices, with
striving to infuse his new coloristic thinking into an arch-classical form. Sample the intense finale of
's quartet for a taste of the sharp profiles this young group brings to each movement. Perhaps the biggest draw here is a work by a composer,
Benjamin Attahir
, of whom most listeners outside France will be unaware. His five-movement quartet
Al' Asr
, he says, "is the afternoon prayer. I tried to transcribe musically the atmosphere of this specific moment of the day. Raw light, overwhelming heat, iridescence of the air in contact with the surface of the ground -- so many images that accompanied me when writing this piece." It also refers to a brief verse from the Quran. The work successfully merges these specific references with the formal quartet structure, including a final fugue that marks a new take on the Romantic usage of this form to signify spiritual transcendence. There is much to ponder on this release, which continues to promise great things from its performers. ~ James Manheim