Sono Luminus is proud to bring you the second CD from the Jasper String Quartet - The Kernis Project: Schubert, pairing the celestial works of Aaron Jay Kernis and Franz Schubert. This enchanting project is the follow-up to their previous release, The Kernis Project: Beethoven (DSL92142).

Not only do Schubert and Kernis both ruminate in the angelic and spiritual realms for these works, their overall compositional structures are strikingly similar. Both feature monumental opening movements, transcendent slow movements, short and driving scherzos, and devilish finales. Though different in many respects, these two works garner startling parallels despite the 166 years between them.

One of the youngest composers ever to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize, Aaron Jay Kernis is among the most esteemed musical figures of his generation. His music is featured prominently in orchestral, chamber and recital programs worldwide, and he has been commissioned for many of America‘s foremost institutions and performing artists.

Winner of the 2012 Cleveland Quartet Award, the Jasper String Quartet has been hailed as “sonically delightful and expressively compelling” (The Strad) and as “powerful” (The New York Times). They play “with sparkling vitality and great verve, ...polished, engaged, and in tune with one another” (Classical Voice of North Carolina).