The Juliet Letters
| The Juliet Letters | ||||
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| Studio album by Elvis Costello and The Brodsky Quartet | ||||
| Released | 19 January 1993 | |||
| Genre | Classical | |||
| Length | 62.55 | |||
| Label |
Warner Bros. Rhino (21 March 2006 Reissue) |
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| Producer | The Brodsky Quartet, Elvis Costello and Kevin Killen | |||
| Elvis Costello chronology | ||||
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The Juliet Letters is the 14th studio album by the British rock singer and songwriter Elvis Costello, released on compact disc as Warner Brothers 45180. The entire instrumental backing is provided by the Brodsky String Quartet. Costello described the album as "a song sequence for string quartet and voice and it has a title. It's a little bit different. It's not a rock opera. It's a new thing." It peaked at No. 18 on the UK album chart, and at No. 125 on the Billboard 200.
Costello first encountered the Brodsky Quartet in 1989, a performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall of the entire cycle of string quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich. They met for the first time in November 1991, to begin work on the concept and execution of this album project. Costello viewed this album as neither his first stab at classical music, nor the Brodsky's first attempt at rock and roll.
With a concept of imaginary letters being sent to an imaginary recipient, Juliet Capulet, all five musicians contributed to the writing of the lyrics as well as the music. No overdubs were made, the album recorded in its entirety live in the studio. One single was actually released from the album, the track "Jacksons, Monk, and Rowe," although it did not chart in either the United States or the UK.
The album was released initially on compact disc in 1993. As part of the Rhino Records reissue campaign for Costello's back catalogue from Demon/Columbia and Warners, it was re-released in 2006 with 18 additional tracks on a bonus disc. The bonus disc included additional musicians to Costello and the Brodsky Quartet, with some tracks recorded live at the 1995 Meltdown Festival. This reissue is out of print; the album was reissued again by Universal Music Group after its acquisition of Costello's complete catalogue in 2006.
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