String Quartets
New Amsterdam, 2025
9/10
The composer, improviser and saxophonist Travis LaPlante is joined by the strings of the JACK Quartet for these 2 lengthy selections where LaPlante takes on the role as leader.
“String Quartet I” occupies the first half and uses thoughtful, stirring strings thanks to John Pickford Richards’ strategic viola and Jay Campbell’s emotive cello that builds into tense, quivering gestures. Part 2 of this piece leads soft and intimate, before cinematic swells of ambience enter.
“String Quartet II” finishes out the listen, and allows for Christopher Otto and Austin Wulliman’s harmonic violins to intrigue us amid the radiant warmth and, later on, firm and dizzying string acrobatics.
A truly gripping listening experience, LaPlante’s compositions are technical and packed with beauty, as the quartet flesh them out with profound attention to detail.
Travels well with: Gideon Broshy- Nest; Darian Donovan Thomas- A Room With Many Doors