Alexander Goehr: Since Brass, Nor Stone...

This new recording of Goehr's chamber music, written between the years of 2002-2012 and featuring artists critically hailed as 'chamber music royalty' (The Nash Ensemble - Sunday Times), 'one of the most polished and musically exciting young string quartets in the world today' (Pavel Haas Quartet - Washington Post) and 'a miracle of cool-headed brilliance' (Colin Currie - Daily Telegraph) cannot fail to delight. The title work, Since Brass nor Stone, is inspired by Shakespeare's 65th Sonnet and begins rather comically with a literal play of the opening line 'Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea,' with Chinese gong and bell tree, followed by stone drum, and log drum to lion's roar and rainstick, all in the space of the opening four bars. The combination of percussion with string quartet is an unusual one but Goehr successfully balance the timbres with some remarkably striking and technically difficult writing for both.