Of All Joys Attacca Quartet

• Arvo Pärt (b. 1935):
• 1Pärt: Summa05:44
• Luca Marenzio (1553 - 1599):
• 2Marenzio: Solo e pensoso05:01
• John Dowland (1563 - 1626):
• 3Dowland: Flow My Tears (Lachrimae)03:55
• Orlando Gibbons (1583 - 1625):
• 4Gibbons: Fantasia a 6 in D Minor03:45
• Philip Glass (b. 1937): String Quartet No. 3 "Mishima":
• 5Glass: String Quartet No. 3 "Mishima": I. 1957 - Award Montage04:11
• 6Glass: String Quartet No. 3 "Mishima": II. November 25 - Ishigaya01:21
• 7Glass: String Quartet No. 3 "Mishima": III. 1934 - Grandmother and Kimitake04:12
• 8Glass: String Quartet No. 3 "Mishima": IV. 1962 - Body Building01:41
• 9Glass: String Quartet No. 3 "Mishima": V. Blood Oath03:16
• 10Glass: String Quartet No. 3 "Mishima": VI. Mishima / Closing02:57
• Gregorio Allegri (1582 - 1652):
• 11Allegri: Miserere08:00
• John Bennet (1575 - 1614):
• 12Bennet: Weep, O Mine Eyes02:53
• Jacobus Clemens non Papa (1510 - 1555):
• 13Papa: Ego flos campi a 704:38
• Arvo Pärt:
• 14Pärt: Fratres11:32
• Total Runtime01:03:06

Info for Of All Joys

“Of All Joys” also features Minimalist works by Arvo Pärt and several Renaissance composers such as John Dowland, Orland Gibbons amd Gregorio Allegri. The album is centred around the six movements of Glass’ “String Quartet No. 3 (“Mishima”)” which were themselves excerpted from Glass’ score for Paul Schrader’s 1985 film Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters. Dramatising the life and death of Yukio Mishima, considered one of Japan’s most important and influential writers of the 20th Century, the quartet were drawn to how Glass created musical movements that resonated within the thematic structure of the film, yet that also reached outside and into the kind of deep soul-searching that “Of All Joys” asks of its listeners.

For the ensemble’s cellist Andrew Yee, the power of Glass’ string quartet derives from “the strange way it interacts with the subjects in the film itself ” and how “the dark nature of Mishima’s being is highlighted by the very specific way that Glass’ music washes over you.” Besides, adds violinist Domenic Salerni, Glass’ ability to conjure a myriad of emotions and responses from the simplest of elements remains inspirational. “Using an extreme economy of means, he creates moments and momentums out of simple whole-number harmonic and rhythmic ratios that can leave one feeling resigned and despairing, uplifted and filled with joy, or simply at peace and transported to a place of beauty.”

“Of All Joys” is a project that began with the group – Amy Schroeder [violinist], Domenic Salerni [violinist], Nathan Schram [violist], and Andrew Yee [cellist] – nominating their favorite pieces from both the Minimalist movement and Renaissance era, and considering how modern works resonate with what came before. The works chosen are unique in their harmonic structures as well as their instrumentation, and while some are vocal works and some are for strings, none were actually originally written specifically for string quartet. “We just want to play music we love, whether it’s originally written for our medium or not,” says violinist Amy Schroeder.

Such juxtapositions aid one of the quartet’s key beliefs – that music is music. “We truly believe in the beauty and importance of music from all eras,” says Schroeder. “Lineage is a beautiful thing in and of itself, and being able to get a glimpse into life and art of the past is a unique privilege.”

This translates to a rich sense of reverence for each of the works featured, but a freshness too. And, above all, respect and admiration, and love for the art. “In many ways this album expresses one of the biggest reasons one would choose to play in a string quartet,” says Schroeder. “The beautiful organ-like chords and the purity of the harmony in these pieces is extremely satisfying and even when ‘sad’ in nature, they are a true joy to play.”

“There was a feeling that we were recording music we had been deprived of – and we hadn’t been so moved by music we had to stop and weep between takes. Hopefully we captured the joy of being able to soak all that in,” sayscellist Andrew Yee of “Of All Joys”, and how isolation affected the quartet.

“It is about the joy of being together and making something that is more beautiful that you can make yourself,” says violinist Domenic Salerni.

Transmitting all of this through music is not easy, yet “Of All Joys” is possessed of a rare depth and solemnity. Vitality too. For the joy to be found in communion can be fleeting; “Of All Joys” suggests we cherish it when we can.

Attacca Quartet

Attacca Quartet
First prize winners in the 7th Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in 2011, top prize winners and Listeners’ Choice award recipients in the 2011 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, and winners of the Alice Coleman Grand Prize in the 60th annual Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition in 2006, the internationally acclaimed Attacca Quartet has become one of America’s premier young performing ensembles. Praised by The Strad for possessing “maturity beyond its members’ years,” they were formed at the Juilliard School in 2003 and made their professional debut in 2007 as part of the Artists International Winners Series in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. From 2011-2013 they served as the Juilliard Graduate Resident String Quartet, and for the 2014-2015 season they were selected as the Quartet in Residence by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The Attacca Quartet recently completed a recording project of Haydn’s masterwork “The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross,” arranged by Andrew Yee and the Attacca Quartet. In his review for Gramophone, Donald Rosenberg wrote, “The Attacca Quartet explore the work’s range of expressive moods with utmost sensitivity to nuance and interplay .... They triumph in every respect, and are captured in such vivid sound that no telling Haydn detail is allowed to go unheard.” Thewholenote.com wrote, “It’s easily the most satisfying string version of the work that I’ve heard.”

In 2013, the quartet released the complete works for string quartet by John Adams on Azica Records. It was praised by Steve Smith of The New York Times as a “vivacious, compelling set,” describing the Attacca Quartet’s playing as “exuberant, funky, and … exactingly nuanced.” The Boston Globe also praised the release, stating, “Few [recent recordings] are as consequential as ‘Fellow Traveler,’ … superb performances.” The album was the recipient of the 2013 National Federation of Music Clubs Centennial Chamber Music Award. The quartet has been honored with both the Arthur Foote Award from the Harvard Musical Association and the Lotos Prize in the Arts from the Stecher and Horowitz Foundation.

The 2016-2017 season began with a bang as the Attacca Quartet opened for rock superstar Jeff Lynne’s ELO in two sold-out Radio City Music Hall performances. In addition, the quartet will be launching their new “Recently Added” series (first announced in a New York Times feature about the completion of their six-year traversal of all of Haydn’s 68 string quartets). The new project is dedicated to living composers who they feel have added significantly to the string quartet canon. The first season is taking place at Brooklyn's National Sawdust and features the music of Caroline Shaw, Michael Ippolito and John Adams. At the same time, the Attacca will present an ongoing series at Trinity Lutheran Church in Manhattan entitled “Based on Beethoven,” featuring performances of the complete Beethoven string quartets, paired with works inspired by Beethoven from the “Recently Added” series. The group will serve as the inaugural Ensemble-in-Residence at the School of Music at Texas State University during the 2016-2017 season and will appear in concerts and master classes throughout the United States and South America.

The Attacca Quartet has engaged in extensive educational and community outreach projects, serving as guest artists and teaching fellows at the Lincoln Center Institute, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Vivace String Camp in New York, the Woodlands ChamberFest in Texas, Virginia Arts Festival, Bravo! Vail Valley and Animato Summer Music Camp at Florida International University in Miami. Since 2006, they have performed in yearly benefit concerts supporting the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation’s efforts. The members of the Attacca Quartet currently reside in New York City. They are represented by Baker Artists, LLC.

This album contains no booklet.