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"Het Borromeo is door de jaren heen met deze muziek vergroeid geraakt en dat wordt ook in deze fraaie opname niet onder stoelen of banken gestoken. Naast de voortdurende flonkerende virtuositeit is er die onmiskenbare expressieve diepgang waarmee deze stukken in vuur en vlam worden gezet. Dat bleek overigens al uit een eerdere opname op het label GM, met onder meer het vierde strijkkwartet van Bartók en Schuller (niet op onze site besproken). Het blijft evenwel een mirakel dat met name de kwartetten van Bartók en Schuller in deze door BMN verzorgde live-opname zo trefzeker worden neergezet. Het is en het blijft hondsmoeilijke en uitermate weerbarstige muziek die ook voor de toehoorder menig obstakel oplevert. Maar zoals zo vaak in de muziek: wie volhoudt wordt beloond!"
www.opusklassiek.nl
April 2016

Each visionary performance of the award-winning Borromeo String Quartet strengthens and deepens its reputation as one of the most important ensembles of our time. Admired and sought after for both its fresh interpretations of the classical music canon and its championing of works by 20th and 21st century composers, the ensemble has been hailed for its “edge-of-the-seat performances” by the Boston Globe, which called it “simply the best there is.” Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, the Borromeo continues to be a pioneer in its use of technology, and has the trailblazing distinction of being the first string quartet to utilize laptop computers on the concert stage. Reading music this way helps push artistic boundaries, allowing the artists to perform solely from 4-part scores and composers’ manuscripts, a revealing and metamorphic experience which these dedicated musicians now teach to students around the world. As the New York Times noted, “The digital tide washing over society is lapping at the shores of classical music. The Borromeo players have embraced it in their daily musical lives like no other major chamber music group.” Moreover, the Quartet often leads discussions enhanced by projections of handwritten manuscripts, investigating with the audience the creative process of the composer. And in 2003 the Borromeo became the first classical ensemble to make its own live concert recordings and videos, distributing them for many years to audiences through its Living Archive. The next offering of Living Archive, a music learning web portal, will be released next season.

The quartet has been ensemble-in-residence at the New England Conservatory and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum for twenty-three years; and has worked extensively as performers and educators with the Library of Congress (highlighting both its manuscripts and instrument collections); the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Taos Schoolof Music. The ensemble joined the Emerson Quartet as the 2014-15 Hittman Ensembles in Residence at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, and its upcoming season includes substantial residencies at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Kansas University in Lawrence, and the San Francisco Conservatory