The first piece on Raynald Grenier’s String Quartet Collection is his Canon in E Flat. The ceremonial and emotive canon melody meanders and expands on top of the sweetly rich timbres of the strings in a rare display of actually worthwhile, modern takes on classical music traditions.
A Canadian, based in Quebec City, Raynald Grenier is a composer and arranger who, after a long and prosperous career as a performing pianist carrying out countless shows across north America and Europe, has decided to settle down for a career of musical creation, with Canon in E Flat being among these stunning and faithfully classical creations.
Perhaps the most famous canon is Pachelbel’s universally beloved wedding anthem, his Canon in D, with Canon being a classical music format in which a steady and lengthy melody gets repeated, growing in scale and grandeur with each repetition, a form that allows the compositions to start relatively quiet and calm, before escalating gently into stormy and anthemic crescendos. Raynald Grenier’s Canon in E Flat is a wonderful canon at that.
With a core melody that’s easy to digest, and a sweet sound from the string quartet that carry the piece’s escalation in its different forms with grace. A beautifully composed piece of music that’s exquisitely delicate in sound and easy to love.