Recorded live at the Victoriaville Festival in 1998, this 67-minute spontaneous composition is explosive not only for what happens in it, but for what doesn't. The guns don't blaze here very often, but they are just as deadly with silencers on. And needless to say, when Urs Leimgruber is the least-known musician in a quartet, you have some heavyweight players. The quartet is aptly named, given its performance, which uses night not only as a metaphor, but as an m.o. for improvisation, where texture, sp   [ read more ]

CD $17.08

Recorded six and a half years after Quartet Noir's eponymous debut (then simply credited to the four musicians), Lugano is as delicate, graceful, puzzling, and beautiful as one could expect from the work of Marilyn Crispell and Jodlle LTandre, together or separately. The quartet's debut chronicled a first meeting with a round of duo and trio permutations, rounded up by the occasional quartet section. Lugano is more of a collective effort, everyone being involved throughout. Paradoxically, thi   [ read more ]

CD $13.28