The Best Contemporary Music albums of 2020
As the global reputation, reach, and repertoire of Montréal’s Quatuor Bozzini has grown over the last two decades, one thing that hasn’t changed is the peerless string quartet’s dedication to performing the work of composers from its Canadian homeland. The Serbian-born Ana Sokolović has lived in Québec since 1992, and this collection underlines her unique sensibility, deriving ideas from her engagement with theater, ballet, and folk music. The centerpiece of the album is her three-part Commedia dell’arte, with each three-movement work named for and inspired by different characters of the Italian theatrical tradition. Here, she privileges evocation provided by extended and percussive techniques over traditional structures.