Fanfare Magazine’s Colin Clarke has a new review for our latest recording Patagón featuring the music of Cindy Cox:
“Elegy for solo violin is a five-minute, slowly-unfolding, eloquent tribute. Zakarias Grafilo plays it beautifully, particularly the stratospherically-high final section: the music seems to ascend into silence like a spirit finding the higher realms. … Out of that silence, the quiet opening of Columba aspexit emerges. … Counterpoint is a vital part of the expressive world of this piece, particularly canon. The second movement is rather restless; Cox’s use of pizzicato is most effective. There is also a sense of mourning here (the piece is dedicated to the memory of composer’s daughter, Elisabeth Terrell Cox-Hurst, who sadly died at birth). In the final part, Cox adds minimalist phasing to the mix. The sense of rising frenzy, almost impending panic, towards the end is perfectly projected here by the Alexander Quartet. … The title of Patagón itself refers to Patagonia and reflects the composer’s recent linkage of music to nature (the piece was written in 2011, while on sabbatical in South America). Deliberately utilizing a wide variety of instrumental techniques (glissando harmonics to invoke a seagull, for example, and col legno to represent the heartbeat of the piece), this is a stunning demonstration of how expert scoring married to a wide-ranging imagination can bear infinitely satisfying fruit. … The Alexander Quartet commissioned Patagón on the occasion of their thirtieth anniversary season. It is dedicated to them. In this, as in all three pieces, the conviction of the performances is never in doubt. The recording standard for the entire disc is of the highest.” —Colin Clarke, Fanfare Magazine