Cassatt String Quartet - String Quartets Nos 1-3 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

With an energized mix of jazz, soul, rock & funk, Belgian bassist Piet Verbist's Zygomatik takes the classic, mostly acoustic jazz quartet instrumentation to new places on the band's second recording. The trio of Verbist, drummer Herman Pardon, and Bram Weijters on Fender Rhodes, is joined by two saxophonists - Jeroen Van Herzeele on tenor & soprano, and Vincent Brijs on baritone - as they slip and slide through a set of eight joyous originals. A staple on the European jazz circuit for many years, Verbist's deep sense of groove, time, and harmonic interest have made him a favorite of touring international artists and the many Belgian groups he's toured the world with over the last 20 years. InchBrilliant, fun, and thoughtful. Highly recommended.Inch - All About Jazz

For Cantar de Amor, Fahmi Alqhai and Accademia del Piacere are joined by tenor and fellow Andalusian Juan Sancho for a new survey of 17th c. Spanish dramatic songs depicting the trials of love.Juan Hidalgo, the foremost musical figure of the time who, working with Pedro Calderón de la Barcain, produced a wide variety of musical theatre works, composed many of the tonos on this new Glossa .Sancho and Accademia del Piacere have been able to gather together an excellent array of surviving canciones expressing the vibrancy and character of the torments of love in the Spanish theatrical manner.

The music of the Cuban-American composer Orlando Jacinto Garcia inhabits a sonic universe of it's very own, one where the musical landscape is constructed in order to evoke a thorough suspension of time. The three works on the present correspond almost precisely to the past three decades of Garcia's career and thus present for the interpreter and listener alike a kind of survey of his development. Garcia's mentor and teacher was Morton Feldman and the aesthetic of Feldman and his inspiration are preoccupations which color several of Garcia's compositions. Garcia has composed over 200 works for a wide variety of genres and instrumental combinations, and has established himself firmly in the new-music world with his time-suspending, haunting explorations. Born in 1954 in Havana, he moved to the USA in 1961. As part of his great success he has received four Grammy nominations awards and honors too many to mention and his music has been recorded for 14 labels as well as Metier. A dedicated educator, Garcia is Professor of Music and Composer in Residence at the School of Music, Florida International University. The Amernet String Quartet has been described by The Strad as a group of exceptional technical ability' and praised by the New York Times for intelligent and immensely satisfying playing'. The ensemble is Quartet in Residence at Florida International University and it's performance schedule has taken it all round the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. The Amernet is a strong advocate for new music and also for high quality neglected works of the past.