Strings Intertwined (ConTempus Quartet)

On April 24, Blue Griffin Recording releases Strings Intertwined by the ConTempus Quartet. Strings Intertwined celebrates the ensemble’s 10th anniversary. Since their founding in November 2015, the ensemble has been committed to rediscovering underrepresented music and collaborating with living composers. 

The album begins with Florence Price’s String Quartet, No. 2, which was one of her manuscripts rediscovered in 2009. ConTempus Quartet was drawn to this historically significant work because of its distinct blending of Romantic lyricism, spirituals, and blues.

The album continues with another overlooked composer of the same era, Fernande Decruck, and her Suite dans le style ancien. Through Matthew Aubin, Director of the Jackson Symphony Orchestra, the ensemble obtained access to a scan of the original score, and their performance underscores Decruck’s unique harmonic voice that lives within elements of French Baroque dance.

Moving into the contemporary, the ensemble commissioned the String Quartet No. 1 from composer Ivette Herryman Rodriguez. Rodriguez takes inspiration from Price and Decruck’s quartets, while introducing her own musical roots and perspectives and bringing the conversation into the present day.

“The title of our album, Strings Intertwined, speaks to a musical dialogue across generations, one reimagined, one revived, and one newly created, where voices shaped by different eras and musical languages meet through the string quartet. In playing them, we feel personally connected to the composers and their stories.

As an all-female string quartet performing in a medium historically shaped by male composers and performers, we feel personally committed to this project. Performing these works has been deeply meaningful, and we hope experiencing them brings listeners the same spirit of curiosity and connection.” — ConTempus Quartet