After 20 years of performing, the Cypress String Quartet says goodbye in a significant way by recording Brahms' two sextets with two longtime collaborators in front of a live studio audience.
"We were thinking about the intimacy of opening up our group to two more people, and the intimacy captured with people in the room with you," says cellist Jennifer Kloetzel.
Cellist Zuill Bailey and violist Barry Shiffman join forces with the quartet to tackle chamber pieces that Kloetzel admits would be one of her "desert island discs," marking the first time that Cypress has documented this brooding and passionate composer for a recording that serves as a poignant gathering of friends before a final goodbye.
"There are moments in there that make your heart feel like it's going to burst because of the warmth and the yearning there," says Kloetzel. "But it's also about coming to a place of peace- and I think people can relate to those feelings."
