Stephen Hartke: The Horse with the Lavender Eye

“The performances are precise and probing, abetted by lucid sound and a booklet-note from Xak Bjerken that offers context and poses questions in equal measure.” Gramophone Magazine, April 2009

“This outstanding performance by the Los Angeles Piano Quartet of an outstanding work seals a never-less-than-fascinating survey of Hartke’s chamber music.” --International Record Review

“With each encounter, I’m taken with the sparkle and virtuosity, the rhythmic vitality, melodic invention and overall alertness of Hartke’s music. There’s the sense that the Los Angeles-based composer has taken a thousand influences, everything from Japanese court music to Stravinsky, tossed them into a blast furnace and melted down to something essential and unique. The performances here, by the Los angeles Piano Quintet, clarinettist Richard Faria, violinist Ellen Jewett and pianist Xak Bjerken are exceptional; they breathe music.”

Richard Scheinin. San Jose Marcury News - 1 January 2010