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Jürg Frey: String Quartets in Take Effect

“Review”, Tom Haugen, Take Effect, December 20, 2025
Wednesday, January 7, 2026 Press

Originally released in 2006, this reissue assembles the Swiss composer’s first two quartets and other works, where Quatuor Bozzini’s inimitable strings illuminate the timeless vision.

Streichquartett leads with Nadia Francavilla’s and Clemens Markel’s violin’s radiating mystery and hypnotic ideas across the cinematic and occasionally plucked 11 minutes, and (Unbetitelt) VI follows with the rich bowing of the violins alongside Isabelle Bozzini’s well timed cello bouts.

The back half belongs to the 2 segments of Zwei allerletze Sachelchen, where atmospheric is key and dreaminess enters in ways that are cryptic and short lived, while Streichquartett exits with nearly 30 minutes of gentle waves of ambience that make great use of Stephanie Bozzini’s viola.

An often slow moving body of work, the Montréal quartet again impress us with their detail, as seemingly simple moments unfold with beauty, wonder and emotion that truly does justice to Frey’s work.

… the Montréal quartet again impress us with their detail, as seemingly simple moments unfold with beauty, wonder and emotion that truly does justice to Frey’s work.
9/10