Credits:

Keller Quartet

Description:

The Keller Quartet was formed in 1987 by Andras Keller, concertmaster of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, and other members of the Liszt Academy of Music, and has been performing a wide range of music from classical to contemporary repertoire with a fresh and lively performance. The Keller Quartet has released a number of highly acclaimed recordings on ECM, including Bach, Ligeti, Kurtág, Schnittke, and many others. In this album, ECM founder Manfred Eicher and the quartet trace the quartet's 20-year history, contrasting and examining contemporary and past composers and works. The slow movements of works by Bach, Kurtág, and those that emerged in the intervening years are used as material for the album, which weaves together past and recent recordings into a single work. The title of the album, "Cantante e tranquillo," refers to the third movement of Beethoven's String Quartet No. 16. It means "singing and quiet," a phrase that is perfectly in tune with the musicianship of the quartet. Universal Music/IMS

Tracklisting:

1.String Quartet No. 16 in F major, Op. 135: Lento assai, cantante e tranquillo
2.String Quartet No. 2: Allegro con delicatezza - stets sehr mild
3.Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus 1
4.Aus der Ferne 5
5.Piano Quintet: Moderato pastorale
6.In Air Clear and Unseen: An Autumn Evening
7.Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus 14
8.Officium breve in memoriam Andreae Szervanszky, Op. 28: Arioso interrotto (di Endre Szervanszky), Lar
9.String Quartet No. 13 in B flat major, Op. 130: Cavatina. Adagio molto espressivo
10.Jatekok, Vol. 5: Flowers We Are - for Miyako
11.Hommage a Bach
12.Signs, Games and Messages, for strings: Ligatura Y
13.Ligatura for two violins
14.String Quartet No. 16 in F major, Op. 135: Lento assai, cantante e tranquillo (var.)