Jefferson Friedman: Quartets
Chiara String Quartet & Matmos

Released 2011 New Amsterdam Records

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American composer Jefferson Friedman's music has been called 'impossible to resist' by The New York Times, and Sequenza 21 reports, '[Mr. Friedman] goes a lot further toward sustaining interest and tension than composers twice his age (and with Pulitzer Prizes).' His work has been performed throughout the United States and abroad, most notably at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Columbia University's Miller Theatre, the Bowery Ballroom, (Le) Poisson Rouge, and the American Academy in Rome. Jefferson Friedman: Quartets includes pristine yet passionate recordings of the composer's second and third quartets, works that demand to be considered modern masterpieces.

The Baltimore-based experimental electronic duo Matmos contributes two mind-bending 'remixes' to this album, using the quartet recordings as source material. Known for their pop-leaning music concrete soundscapes, Matmos has come to define a new generation of 'found sound' artists. M. C. (Martin) Schmidt and Drew Daniel are the core members, but they frequently collaborate with other artists, including most notably Björk, So Percussion, and J Lesser.