Pastorale
New Focus, 2024
8/10
The string quartet of Leah Asher, Marina Kifferstein, Meaghan Burke and Carrie Frey, as The Rhythm Method they pen 3 involved works that unfold with ideas of social awareness, engagement and collectivism.
Paul Pinto’s “String Quartet No. 4 (‘I pass’d a church’)” starts with voices used like an instrument in the very ASMR friendly climate that displays the strings in unpredictable and sparing ways.
The middle belongs to “String Quartet No. 2”, by Marina Kifferstein, where the strings drone with intrigue and mystery via a cinematic quality which draws us in to a slight tension.
The final piece, Lewis Nelson’s “Pastorale… para los probres de la tierra”, recruits Alice Teyssier’s flute and voice for a distinctly harmonic and tonally cohesive exit.
A highly artistic version of modern classical ideas, the quartet’s 10 year anniversary aligns with this release, and it continues their enlightening approach that’s sonically expressive and flirts with improvisation, vocalization and theater.
Travels well with: Orlando Jacinto García- La Vida Que Vendra; Yi-Ting Lu- An Unopened Seashell