There have been a couple of recent classical music groups that have appeared recently in Portland that have garnered some well-earned recognition or have dropped new albums that are receiving acclaim in the world-wide press.
The first of these is the Ebène Quartet, a young French ensemble that gave a spectacular concert as part of the Friends of Chamber Music series here in Portland last season. They were honored by the Classic FM Grammophone Awards with the Album of the Year award for their debut album of music by Debussy, Ravel, and Faure. No surprise, it’s one of the best recordings of the French quartet repertoire that I’ve heard so far. Here’s a video promoting the recording:
You can also hear the recording of their live Portland concert here (along with the rest of FOCM’s 2008-2009 season).
The second group is the superstar crossover group consisting of Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer and Zakir Hussain. They’ve released an album with the Detroit Symphony and conductor Leonard Slatkin called The Melody of Rhythm.