Quatuor Bozzini’s reissue of Jürg Frey: String Quartets commemorates the quartet’s 25th anniversary and features five works documenting Frey’s compositional development from 1988 to 2000. The album’s centerpiece, the 29-minute Streichquartett 2, uses a fingering technique called half-tone harmonics that blurs pitch and timbre, creating an ethereal sound that hovers at the threshold of audibility. The hypnotic nature of this music has stopped me in my tracks, pulling me in closer with each listen.

Swiss composer Frey’s approach draws from visual artist Agnes Martin, whose work Frey encountered while composing his first quartet in 1988. As he explains in the liner notes, “There was a kind of visibility to her art, which I felt corresponded to the audibility in my music.” This connection between sensory experience and minimal expression runs throughout the album, from the restrained chromaticism of Streichquartett to the almost monophonic unfolding of (Unbetitelt) VI and the brief, delicate sketches of Zwei allerletzte Sächelchen (which should not be listened to while operating heavy equipment).

The Bozzini’s precise execution amplifies the music’s mesmerizing qualities, highlighting why they’ve become one of contemporary music’s most significant ensembles, having premiered approximately 500 works across diverse compositional approaches.