In the collective imagination, the string quartet is associated with the great classical repertoire, but in the past twenty years it has inevitably been affected by the experimentation of contemporary music and by the influence of the increased circulation and popularity of jazz. Thus the creation of a 'non-classical' string quartet which nonetheless draws on the classical quartet’s discipline, technique and founding philosophy.

The Alkemia Quartet became immediately interested in the works of Giovanni Sollima. Though entirely notated, these pieces require some improvisation and both a modern and transverse freedom of interpretation, fully reflecting the technical and creative mastery of the composer, who melds music from John Dowland to J.S. Bach, Webern and Kurt
Cobain.

Sollima's 4 Strings starts from the roots, blending minimalistic Mediterranean atmospheres with Celtic, pop and rock music, always in the search of a new and appropriate sound.

This programme includes the world premiere recording of Africa, a work dated 1994 in the Sonzogno catalogue and about which Sollima said: “I found it dancing, in a tragic way. You dug it up again, and you have given it an awesome, new, fresh, sensual, dynamic and very personal reading.”