Auryn Quartet / Alexander Lonquich - Gideon Lewensohn: Odradek

The ECM New Series debut of Israeli composer Gideon Lewensohn, Odradek is comprised entirely of premiere recordings. Lewensohn is increasingly recognised as one of the freshest voices in contemporary music and the title piece from this album, the Odradek Quartet won First Prize in the International Competition of the Italian Academy of Arts and Letters. Lewensohn's music defies easy categorisation. It is by turns, playful, serious, ironic, caustic, beautiful. The composer defines his own role as that of a commentator on culture - sometimes from a specifically Jewish perspective - and the range of musical-historical references in the work is vast. In his compositions, Lewnsohn pays tribute to Kurt�g, Kancheli, Lutoslawski, Shostakovich, Bart�k, Mahler, Rochberg, the Hilliard Ensemble, ragtime composer Scott Joplin and many others.