Xenakis, Iannis

Complete String Quartets - The Jack Quartet [DVD]

Label: Mode Records Country: USA

DVD Edition filmed in high definition video, widescreen format. "The first complete recording of Xenakis' string quartets. The first new recording of Xenakis' first three quartets since 1994. The only availalbe recording of Xenakis' last quartet, 'Ergma,' from 1994. The first commercial release by the JACK Quartet, a young New York/Boston based group that has been garnering high praise for their performances of complex and challenging new music. The members of the quartet met while attending the Eastman School of Music, New York. The quartet has since studied closely with the Arditti Quartet, Kronos Quartet, Muir String Quartet, and members of the Ensemble Intercontemporain."-Mode Records

'The Jack Quartet, an ensemble of young string players devoted to contemporary music, played the Le Poisson Rouge in October. I would never have expected to see a crowd at a downtown nightclub erupting with whoops after performances of four hypercomplex, cutting-edge string quartets by Iannis Xenakis. But in this setting these dense and kinetic works came across to this open-minded audience as just more hip, wild, out-there contemporary music.'-Anthony Tommasini, New York Times.

On Surround Sound DVD only, the studio recording process was dynamically captured by a multiple camera shoot, directed by Tim Chu. Each quartet is given its own visual treatment.