OUT NOW | Danish String Quartet's New CD: "Prism III"

ECM Records announced the release of the Danish String Quartet's new album, "Prism III."

"Our Prism recordings are centered around the five last quartets by Beethoven," violinist Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen told The Violin Channel. "In the case of the Prism III, the Beethoven quartet is the legendary Op. 131. This is a famous piece of music that most string quartets circle around for years before digging in.

"The music is larger than life and (unfortunately) the lore is thicker than the layer of cream cheese on a bagel. It has been an intense process for us to learn and relearn this masterpiece over and over again during the last decade. Of all the Prism albums, this disc is probably the most intuitively connected. All the pieces on the disc, the Beethoven, the Bartok, and the Bach, are built upon slow, dense fugues. They are all shining showcases that the fugue, an often dry baroque musical form, can be used as a powerful vehicle for expressing the deepest human conditions.

"This is an album with something for everyone. The intellectual types will hopefully indulge themselves in the "oh so clever" way that we have connected fugues and musical forms over hundredths of years. The more romantic types can simply enjoy a hedonistic musical journey that is varied and enjoyable. We like discs and concerts like this. The intellect and the heart can easily live side by side. We can be clever and intuitive at the same time."