NPR's 50 Favorites of 2011

NPR Music announced its 50 Favorites of 2011. 

"The superb young American string quartet Brooklyn Rider is famous for stretching boundaries well beyond the point where lesser groups would snap. Its collaborators range from Yo-Yo Ma to Suzanne Vega to Chinese pipa virtuoso Wu Man; it's recorded everything from Persian folk music to Debussy with grace, spirit, vigor and profound insight. In bringing all of those qualities to the five string quartets written by Philip Glass — a composer not generally known for his string quartets — these Brooklynites reveal astonishing layers of texture and depth in Glass' writing, as well as warmth often absent from Glass performances. With the inclusion of Glass' rarely heard String Quartet No. 1, from 1966, and the world premiere of his score to the 1997 film Bent, this is a treasure for Glass fans and anyone willing to roam new musical terrain." (Anastasia Tsioulcas)