The desire to explore the innate human drive for communication is the focus of Babel. For this recording the Calidore String Quartet gathered music which transmits ideas by imitating language; it's rhythms, cadences and intentions. But it also explores what happens when music substitutes for language. When it fills the void of forbidden speech or even how it carries on when language has been exhausted. The result, a compilation of quartets by Schumann, Shostakovich and Caroline Shaw, demonstrates the visceral forms of expression that exist at the intersection of music and language. The Calidore String Quartet has been praised by The New York Times for it's "deep reserves of virtuosity and irrepressible dramatic instinct" and the Los Angeles Times for it's balance of "intellect and expression." Recipient of a 2018 Avery Fisher Career Grant and a 2017 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, the Calidore String Quartet first made international headlines as winner of the inaugural $100,000 Grand Prize of the 2016 M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition. The quartet was the first North American ensemble to win the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship, a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, and is currently in residence with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two).

Tracklist:

String Quartet No. 3, Op. 41: I. Andante Espressivo - Allegro Molto Moderato
String Quartet No. 3, Op. 41: II. Assai Agitato
String Quartet No. 3, Op. 41: III. Adagio Molto
String Quartet No. 3, Op. 41: IV. Finale. Allegro Molto Vivace
Three Essays: First Essay: Nimrod
Three Essays: Second Essay: Echo
Three Essays: Third Essay: Ruby
String Quartet No. 9 In E-Flat Major, Op. 117: I. Moderato Con Moto
String Quartet No. 9 In E-Flat Major, Op. 117: II. Adagio
String Quartet No. 9 In E-Flat Major, Op. 117: III. Allegretto
String Quartet No. 9 In E-Flat Major, Op. 117: IV. Adagio
String Quartet No. 9 In E-Flat Major, Op. 117: V. Allegro

UPC: 635212065020
Label: Signum Classics
Release Date: 10.23.20
Format: CD

Schumann / Calidore String Quartet - Babel (CD)