Adorations

Adorations sees the New York City-based Isidore String Quartet, formed in 2019, celebrate the joys and spiritual rewards of chamber musicmaking. There are no half-measures here, no gimmicks to their playing; instead, they major in wholehearted commitment, fearless in pursuit of telling points of expression, whether subtle, as in the elegant “Menuetto” from Haydn’s String Quartet Op. 20 No. 2, or overwhelming, as in the shattering conclusion of Samuel Barber’s Adagio. Joshua McClendon’s warm, rich cello sets rock-solid foundations for the Isidores’ bewitching sound, strikingly so in the radiant first movement of Mendelssohn’s String Quartet Op. 44, No. 3 and again in Samuel Arraya’s prayerful arrangement of Florence Price’s Adoration.