Of All Joys Attacca Quartet

• Arvo Pärt (b. 1935):
• 1 Pärt: Summa 05:44
• Luca Marenzio (1553 - 1599):
• 2 Marenzio: Solo e pensoso 05:01
• John Dowland (1563 - 1626):
• 3 Dowland: Flow My Tears (Lachrimae) 03:55
• Orlando Gibbons (1583 - 1625):
• 4 Gibbons: Fantasia a 6 in D Minor 03:45
• Philip Glass (b. 1937): String Quartet No. 3 "Mishima":
• 5 Glass: String Quartet No. 3 "Mishima": I. 1957 - Award Montage 04:11
• 6 Glass: String Quartet No. 3 "Mishima": II. November 25 - Ishigaya 01:21
• 7 Glass: String Quartet No. 3 "Mishima": III. 1934 - Grandmother and Kimitake 04:12
• 8 Glass: String Quartet No. 3 "Mishima": IV. 1962 - Body Building 01:41
• 9 Glass: String Quartet No. 3 "Mishima": V. Blood Oath 03:16
• 10 Glass: String Quartet No. 3 "Mishima": VI. Mishima / Closing 02:57
• Gregorio Allegri (1582 - 1652):
• 11 Allegri: Miserere 08:00
• John Bennet (1575 - 1614):
• 12 Bennet: Weep, O Mine Eyes 02:53
• Jacobus Clemens non Papa (1510 - 1555):
• 13 Papa: Ego flos campi a 7 04:38
• Arvo Pärt:
• 14 Pärt: Fratres 11:32
• Total Runtime 01:03:06

Info for Of All Joys

"Of All Joys" – the new record from the Grammy Award-winning string ensemble – is their attempt to recapture all that, and to revel in the beauty and wonder of great works from both the minimalist and Renaissance eras. “Ultimately,” says cellist Andrew Yee, “it is about the joy of coming together and making something that is more beautiful than you can make yourself.”

The record’s title is adapted from a lyric – “And tears and sighs and groans my weary days / Of all joys have deprived” – from John Dowland’s Flow My Tears, an instrumental version of which appears here. e yourself.” That line hit hard, says Yee, and resonated with how isolation affected the quartet.

Of All Joys begins and ends in the modern era with Arvo Pärt; Glass’ work acts as an anchor in the middle. With Summa, Pärt’s gaze was already turned toward the historical; as Yee wryly notes, first-time listeners will be hard pushed to discern whether it was written in 1990 or 1690. Luca Marenzio’s Solo e pensoso is quintessentially of the Renaissance secular tradition, while John Bennet’s Weep, O Mine Eyes sets a more somber tone. The idiomatically instrumental Orlando Gibbons’ Fantasia in D minor reminds us of the capabilities of many strings vibrating at once, and neatly contrasts with the outward melancholy of Glass’ string quartet. Gregorio Allegri picks up from the reconciliation of Glass’ final movement, “Mishima / Closing”, with the vocal and spiritual heights of Miserere. To further emphasize contrast, John Bennet’s Weep, O Mine Eyes sits next to Clemens Non Papa’s biblically inspired yet sensually inclined Ego flos campi, before a return to Pärt’s modern asceticism with Fratres.

There’s a rich sense of reverence to each of the works featured here, 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. One can find solace and inner peace when the balance is just right.”

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.

Booklet for Of All Joys