Quatuor Ebene - round midnight: Dutilleux Merlin Schonberg - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

A String Quartet that can easily morph into a jazz band - New York Times, 2009 Milestones is the new album of Quatuor Ébène recorded in 2023, with the line up still featuring Rafael Merlin (violoncello)(*) - next to Pierre Colombet (violin) Gabriel Le Magadure (violin), Marie Chilemme (viola). It features several standards such as Miles Davis, Milestones - Thelonious Monk, Round Midnight - Erroll Garner, Misty - Toots Thielemans, Bluesette, A nice follow up on albums such as Fiction (2010), Brazil (2014) Eternal Stories in (2017), Milestones is a stylish and original jazz album featuring their arrangements, a talent the QE have nurtured over the years Rafael Merlin (violoncello) has left the QE after 25 years of performing, touring and recording to pursue his conducting and composer activities, the new cellist of the QE is Yuya Okamoto. Booklet text from Rafael Merlin

The history of Argentine concert music during the 20th century was a process of the absorption of various European influences and their melding with more indigenous traditions. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Argentine composers tended to study in Europe or North America, and the result was the appearance of a number of striking personalities who eventually attracted worldwide attention. Three names now stand out Alberto Ginastera, Mauricio Kagel, and Astor Piazzolla. In addition to these stylistically extreme figures, a number of quality composers remained known principally only within Argentina. The leading creative figure among them was Carlos Guastavino. Guastavino's music remained firmly based in the language of the late 19th and early 20th century, maintaining that music should be based on singable melody and tonal harmony, and written for the here and now, not for discovery by future generations. He succeeded instead in creating a national music that was genuinely popular and accessible to a very wide audience. Celebrated pianist Martin Jones recorded the complete music of Carlos Guastavino in 2008. This is a compilation of the best selections from those recording sessions.

Quatuor Ebène - Fiction [COMPACT DISCS] date 03/22/2011