Greg Sandow Turns To Full-Time Composing With A Recording Of Three String Quartets Performed By The Naumburg-Winning Terra String Quartet

Album To Be Released on Acis, August 7, 2026

 

After a distinguished career — as a critic, consultant, and teacher at Juilliard and other schools — Greg Sandow returns full-time to his first love, composing, with this recording of his three string quartets.

 

The album became a close collaboration between Greg and the Terra String Quartet. While the recording was in process, the quartet won the Naumburg Chamber Music Competition, the most prestigious award for young classical musicians in the United States.

 

One of Greg’s quartets, Quartet for Anne, released as a single in February, has had many plays on streaming platforms and has been broadcast on classical radio.

 

Greg wrote it as a surprise birthday present for his wife Anne Midgette, bringing musicians to their home to play it, weaving the music together from pieces of his she’d heard as part of their shared artistic life. Anne, a former classical music critic for The New York Times and The Washington Post, is also a prominent classical music figure.

 

Another quartet, The Remembered Song, is inspired by Greg’s spiritual life. At the start, we hear fragments of a song that, as Greg imagines, we might dimly recall from a life before we were born. At the end it returns, this time complete, transformed by rhythmic tapping into a quiet dance.

 

It was released as a single on June 5, and is available on major streaming platforms.

 

The third and longest quartet, Mahler Variations, could almost be a narrative of Greg’s life in art, told in 22 variations on a theme from the last movement of Mahler’s Third Symphony. The variations are written in diverse musical styles, ranging from Elvis to Webern. Most are tributes to things Greg loves, and function not just as a narrative, but as adventures in different ways to write music.

 

“This recording,” Greg says, “is deeply fulfilling for me. The three quartets, written at different times, and each so different from the others, fit together as if they were meant to be heard in a single flow.

 

“I’m touched, too, by the warmth of the collaborations involved, starting with the Terra String Quartet, and then continuing with Geoffrey Silver, who produced the recording and is releasing it on his Acis label, and with Antonino D’Urzo, our engineer, who with Geoffrey created a recorded sound that, at least to my ear, simply glows.”

 

In the Terra String Quartet are violinists Harriet Langley and Amelia Dietrich, violist Chih-Ta Chen, and cellist Audrey Chen. They’re a rising international ensemble, prizewinners at major competitions.

 

Their personal connection with Greg goes back to his years at Juilliard, when Harriet and Amelia took one of his courses. This recording is their warm and happy reunion.

 

As the quartet wrote, in the recording’s liner notes:

 

“Greg went from a beloved professor to respected colleague and friend, and allowed us to glimpses into his inner world when he and Anne welcomed us into their home.

 

“It is no wonder that his music is so poignant and can speak to so many given the incredibly rich life he has lived.”

 

To hear or download the music, and to download the CD booklet with full liner notes, go to the Acis press page.

 

For more information:

 

Greg Sandow

 

Terra String Quartet

 

Acis 

 

 

 

 

For further information, please contact Hemsing Associates at 212-772-1132 or visit www.hemsingpr.com.

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