Quatuor Molinari - Papineau-Couture: Quatuors à cordes Nos. 1-4 & Trio Slanò (2016)

With this release, the Molinari Quartet celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Canadian composer Jean Papineau-Couture with a new recording of his four string quartets and his trio Slanò. The String Quartet No. 4 was only discovered in the spring of 2016, when the archivist of the Quebec branch of the Canadian Music Centre noticed an unfinished work among the papers which the composer's daughter, Nadia Papineau-Couture, had recently donated to the center. Several characteristics of the handwriting along with the discovery of working notes confirmed Papineau-Couture's authorship. Papineau-Couture's compositional style evolved gradually from polymodal and polytonal neoclassicism to total atonal chromaticism. His work is fascinating for it's exploration of sonic colors, and for it's subtle combination of metrical freedom with strong rhythms to support clearly articulated melodic elements.