VC Artist Attacca Quartet comprises violinists Amy Schroeder and Domenic Salerni, violist Nathan Schram, and cellist Andrew Yee.
The Renaissance composers featured on the album include John Bennet, Orlando Gibbons, Jacob Clemens non Papa, Luca Marenzio, John Dowland, and Gregorio Allegri. Their pieces are recorded alongside works by Arvo Pärt and Philip Glass’ “Mishima” String Quartet No. 3.
The album’s repertoire stemmed from the quartet members examining how modern works of the Minimalist movement resonated with what came before.
The chosen pieces vary in their instrumentation and none of the works were originally written for string quartet. “We just want to play music we love, whether it's written for our medium or not,” said Schroeder.
“Of All Joys” is the quartet’s second album on Sony Classical. They debuted on the label with their last album, “Real Life,” where they reimagined tracks originally recorded by some of today’s most influential artists in electronic music.
Schroeder explained that “Of All Joys” expresses the main reason one would choose to play in a string quartet. “The beautiful organ-like chords and the purity of the harmony in these pieces are extremely satisfying, and even when ‘sad’ in nature, they are a true joy to play,” she said.
“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,” recalled Yee on coming together for this album after the pandemic lockdowns. “Hopefully, we captured the joy of being able to soak all that in.”
“Personal favorite has to go to the Orlando Gibbons Fantasia, but all the tunes are close to my heart,” Yee wrote on Instagram. “Hope you find a chance today to have a listen.”
To listen to and purchase the album, click here.
JOHN DOWLAND | "FLOW MY TEARS" (LACHRIMAE) | ATTACCA QUARTET | 2021
Based in New York, the Attacca Quartet was formed in 2003 and has so far performed on six acclaimed albums, including “Caroline Shaw: Orange,” which won a GRAMMY Award in 2020.
The quartet has served as The Juilliard School’s Graduate Resident String Quartet and Quartet-in-Residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They have collaborated with artists such as Björk and James Blake, featured in the music of a popular video game “Red Dead Redemption 2,” and performed in the soundtrack of Amazon’s 2016 film “Mozart in the Jungle.”
