"The four expressive pieces by Miguel Llobet are actually his arrangements for solo guitar of traditional Catalan folk melodies, re-arranged for mandolin quartet. The interesting, often strange harmonies he chose and the delicate texture of the guitar music made these pieces quite fun and natural for the MMQ."

"The Nutcracker Suite, well there's an adventure. So many amazing melodies and so much other-worldly magic, and so much fun to play. Also so interesting to revisit this music after our previous recording of 1991. So much time has passed! I have to say we were inspired by the Berlin Philharmonic recording with Mstislav Rostropovich, who bends the rules to bring magic to every moment."

"The Pavanne by Gabriel Faure provides a meditative moment after the energy of the Nutcracker Suite. The haunting melody is bathed in harmonies which are quite rich and reminded us of jazz chords, so one day we started improvising and decided to include two solos (Matt Flinner and Gyan Riley) in the finished product."

"The Vivaldi Concerto in D is our nod to the traditional plucked string repertoire. Its joyful energy and the quieter evocative quality of the second movement made this concerto a pleasure to play. The Flower Duet by Delibes was actually a last-minute addition when we found ourselves with some extra studio time on the last day. We enjoyed the singing quality of the music (it's from an opera, after all) and thought it made a nice ending to the album."