Quadrants 3 perfectly illustrates the broad scope of styles and energies that the string quartet can produce. This album offers up the work of eight composers, spread over 16 tracks (1 hr, 16 min, 50 sec), all performed with passion by the Altius Quartet.

Bruce Babcock’s 'The Present Moment' consists of themes that develop and recur like memories changing over time. Nora Morrow's 'Rose Moon', is designed to sonically emulate the image of a rose blooming. Gary Smart’s 'Three Fantasies' draws inspirations from American jazz, European classical, and African American traditions to create a unique “bluesy” string quartet performance.

Jonathan Newmark’s ' Tom Dooley Without the Fringe on Top', was originally written as a speedwriting exercise and features musical ideas from a couple of popular tunes, while Alastair White’s 'Two Panels', a brisk, atonal composition, expresses the composer’s desire to overcome the way we perceive time, identity, and authenticity.

Janice Macaulay’s 'Three Pieces for String Quartet' creates dynamic, lyrical, and playful interactions among the players, while the dramatic 'Picasso’s Flight' presents a narrative about composer Beth Mehocic’s African Grey parrot, Picasso, and his failed attempts at flying.

The album concludes with Phelps Dean Witter’s 'String Quartet No. 4', a piece filled with building emotion and volume - which, rather bizarrely, the composer came up with on the way to the grocery store.

It's a wonderfully diverse album, which showcases the wide range that a string quartet can stretch to.

Track listing:

Bruce Babcock
01 - The Present Moment (12:00)

Nora Morrow
Rose Moon: String Quartet in Three Movements
02 - I. (2:04)
03 - II. (2:48)
04 - II. (1:33)

Gary Smart
Three Fantasies on African American Songs
05 - I. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (8:03)
06 - II. Black Woman (Women’s Prison Song) (4:54)
07 - II. Shortening Bread (6:05)

Jonathan Newmark
08 - Tom Dooley Without The Fringe On Top (3:10)

Alastair White
09 - Two Panels for String Quartet (3:08)
Parisa Zaeri (conductor)

Janice Macaulay
Three Pieces for String Quartet
10 - I. (2:11)
11 - II. (4:42)
12 - II. (2:15)

Beth Mehocic
13 - Picasso’s Flight (7:15)

Phelps Dean Witter
String Quartet no. 4
14 - I. (7:52)
15 - II. (3:20)
16 - II. (5:38)

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Darren Rea