On July 19, 2019, Grammy-winning guitarist Jason Vieaux and the Escher Quartet release Dance on Azica Records. The album captures three quintets they have performed extensively around the U.S. and abroad: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Guitar Quintet, Op. 143; Aaron Jay Kernis’ 100 Greatest Dance Hits; and Luigi Boccherini’s Guitar Quintet No. 4, “Fandango.” Dance was produced and edited by Alan Bise, engineered and mastered by Bruce Egre, and recorded at Sauder Hall, Goshen College.
100 Greatest Dance Hits (1993) represents the lighter side of Kernis’ musical personality. He originally intended the quintet to reflect early 1990s popular styles, but found himself drawn more to the sounds of the 1970s. He explains, “I borrowed the title from those old K-Tel advertisements on late night TV for 100 Greatest Motown Hits or 100 Greatest Soul Hits.” Each of the four movements embraces – or pokes affectionate fun at – a different musical genre.