Since the mid-1990s, the Russian-born Israeli composer Boris Yoffe has dedicated himself to composing short works for string quartet, each lasting about half a minute and written on a single page. From this ever-growing collection, the so-called Quartet Book, which now comprises several thousand pages, musicians, together with Yoffe, selected the pieces for this recording over the past few years. Among the works are also other one-page compositions from a related project: here, the four instrumental parts of the quartet are augmented by four singers whose voices correspond to the instruments in pitch and who interpret passages from the Song of Songs. The Rosamunde Quartet and the Hilliard Ensemble collaborated for the first time for Yoffe's debut in the New Series; the recording was made in St. Gerold in November 2009.
