Golijov / Quatra Duo - Painted Music [CD]

Navona Records presents PAINTED MUSIC from Quatra Duo. This album of works for flute and guitar by four heralded contemporary composers unlocks the imaginative, expressive power of these beloved instruments. The first piece, commissioned as a Christmas gift by Quatra Duo's Jeff LaQuatra for his then soon-to-be wife and duo partner Michelle Stanley, is James McGuire's Suite for Flute and Guitar. The six-movement piece reveals the composer's affinity for jazz, popular music, and even impressionism; all the while it demonstrates the performers' virtuosic range on their instruments. Painted Music from composer Bryan Johanson is a sonata, once again broken into six movements. Each of these is inspired by a different painting from early 20th-century, Swiss born artist Paul Klee. Fish Tale is a surreal and eclectic piece that imagines the journey of a fish from the ocean, to the fish bowl, and far beyond; the music recounts these piscine adventures through a dazzling array of musical styles and colors, from African thumb piano, samba, folk music, and more. From the Dreaming is the work of Australian visual artist, classical guitarist, and composer, Phillip Houghton. The music, inspired by Houghton's visit to the Australian outback, reflects the grandeur and raw power of the country's climate and ecosystems. Searing heat, ancient riverbeds, scurrying geckos and violent storms are all reflected in the dynamic twists and turns of the flute and guitar. PAINTED MUSIC, as it's name suggests, utilizes these two instruments to imprint a gallery of images onto the canvas of the mind. Far from being limited by the duo format, here Quatra Duo seems to relish the challenge. The listener is left with a new sense of what can be accomplished with merely two instruments-in the hands of the right musicians, that is.