Quartetto Prometeo - Salvatore Sciarrino: String Quartets Nos. 7 & 8 and 6 Quartetti brevi (2012/2020)

Kairos is proud to announce the release of three string quartets by renowned Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino, recorded by the brilliant Quartetto Prometeo. The group has worked closely with the composer for years, leading him to dedicate two pieces to it, one of which is included on this CD, the Quartetto No. 8.

The three quartets, Quartetto No. 7, Quartetto No.8, and Sei quartette brevi were written over a time span of fortyone years, but despite this long range of time, Sciarrino’s idiosyncratic musicality is recognizable in every piece.

However, each of the three pieces included in this collection is starkly individual, an ‘interruption’ within the ‘continuity’ of Sciarrino’s oeuvre. In Quartetto No. 7, we are confronted with the composer’s attempt to transfer techniques he developed for voice writing to strings, and in Sei quartette brevi with the enduring legacy of both Beethoven and the post-war avant-garde. This concept of a conscious historical dialog through a personal filter is also present in the Quartetto No.8.