Stringtime – Canadian Chamber Music

(Eclectra ECCD-2050)

The Penderecki String Quartet (Jeremy Bell & Jerzy Kaplanek, violins; Christine Vlajk, viola; Paul Pulford, violoncello); Jennifer Bustin, violin; Tanya Prochazka, violoncello; Roger Admiral, piano

Liner notes in English and French.

This outstanding, Canada-Council-sponsored, disk presents some of Canada’s leading New Music performers at the very peak of their interpretive powers. Critically acclaimed in the true sense of this overused expression. Almost sold out.
 

David Wall: In medias res for string quartet (1992) [07:42]

Linda Catlin Smith: As You Pass a Reflective Surface for string quartet (1991) [06:26]

Alfred Joel Fisher: In Darkness for violoncello solo (1985) [six movements, 12:45]

Keith Hamel: Each Life Converges To Some Centre… for violin and piano (1992) [10:13]

Alice Ping Yee Ho: Caprice for violoncello (1994) [06:12]

Ron Hannah: String Quartet (1973) [three movements, 18:14]

Piotr Grella-Możejko: Strumienie snu/Streams of a Dream for string quartet (1995) [14:03]

This is a beautiful CD, overflowing with creative new Canadian chamber music for – for the most part – strings in small settings, but adding piano on one track. The sound quality is technically (…) as well as artistically top notch, and the works themselves are all interesting and beautiful in their own way.

Ingvar Nordin, Sonoloco (Sweden), March 2001

Stringtime is more than another technically skilled CD – it’s sonically lovely, the performances are energetic and accomplished, and the compositions are beautifully balanced in time and style.

Dennis Bathory-Kitsz, Kalvos & Damian’s New Music Bazaar, WGDR 91.1 FM, February 2001

The Stringtime CD is an excellent one all-around, with top-notch performances by all involved. In medias res by David Wall is a piece that is full of energy, occasionally a bit raucous, but thoroughly engaging. Linda C. Smith’s As You Pass a Reflective Surface is simply beautiful, especially the closing section, prominently featuring a mesmerizing, repeating motif. In Darkness by Alfred J. Fisher is melancholy, though quite accessible and quite virtuosic. Keith Hamel’s Each Life Converges to Some Centre… is a very traditional-sounding work that is nonetheless full of many interesting, vivid moments and is a very solid piece overall. Alice Ho’s Caprice accomplishes much over the course of its short duration, and is a real treasure. Ron Hannah’s String Quartet is a slow-moving yet never disengaging quartet with slight atonal and dissonant leanings that is very pleasing to listen to. Piotr Grella-Mozejko’s Strumienie snu produces from the standard medium of the string quartet sounds that are not immediately thought of as being possible from such a combination, and is surely one of the most original compositions that I have heard composed for string quartet in the last decade. This disc is superb, and not just because the pieces are superb. The performers themselves are of great quality, and the recording sound is as good as it gets.

Dan Albertson, The Living Composers’ Project, March 2001

In the recent Eclectra release “Stringtime,” a sampler of Canadian chamber works, composition is coming apart at the seams. Rather than aim for cohesion, the seven featured composers pit their instruments against one another. To their credit, the Penderecki String Quartet and Edmonton musicians Tania Prochazka, Jennifer Bustin and Roger Admiral emerge triumphant from the battle.

Brian McMillan, WholeNote, November 1 – December 7, 2001

As the portentous titles suggest, much of this material is inward and contemplative. (…) Perhaps the most accessible music here is Ron Hannah’s String Quartet, a three-movement work featuring an elegant design and sincere expressive qualities. The opening piece by David Wall is bristling and animated (…), and Alice Ho adds considerable energy to the solo-cello format in her brief piece, as opposed to Fisher’s bleaker viewpoint. (…) The iconoclast of the bunch is Polish-born Piotr Grella-Mozejko’s Strumienie snu (Streams of a Dream). By far the least conventional music on the CD, his work consists of odd, quiet splashes of string noises, pure sound experiments that resonate like a quiet mirror of the howling world of Penderecki.

Peter Burwasser, Fanfare, January/February 2001

This collection of contemporary Canadian compositions played by the Penderecki String Quartet and several local musicians, including Tanya Prochazka and Roger Admiral, has plenty of quality. [4 stars out of 5]

Bill Rankin, The Edmonton Journal, 12 October 2003

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