Bohuslav Martinů: String Quartet No. 2, H. 150
Christian Mason: «Tuvan Songbook» (2016)
Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet B major Op. 18 No. 6
Duration approx. 70 minutes
It was the practice of Khöömii (throat singing) - following several workshops with Michael Ormiston - that first brought Christian Mason, Composer in Residence 2023/24 at the Musikdorf Ernen, to Tuvan music. Composing this "Songbook," the first in a series commissioned by the Ligeti Quartet, he reflects on compositional issues of transcribing and arranging existing music, and where the line lies between source material and new substance. The result is a fascinating sound world in which archaic folk music and Western contemporary concepts of sound engage in a brilliant symbiosis.
With his eight string quartets, Bohuslav Martinů is one of the genre's major figures of the 20th century. The second quartet was composed in 1925 and has its roots in both Czech folk music and the vibrant big-city life of Paris, which Martinů had absorbed in the years before.
Beethoven's Quartet in B-flat Major is from his first series of quartets (1798–1800) and has a serene mood. Only the fourth movement is unusual with its slow introduction entitled "La malincolia" (The Melancholy), that repeatedly interrupts the cheerful (sanguine) temperament of the following Allegretto with the melancholic interpolations.
Quartet in Residence of the Haute École de Musique Valais-Wallis:
Ruslan Talas, violin
Klementina Venciute, violin
Orlando Barajas, viola
Eléonore Rocca, violoncello
Listen to the «Tuvan Songbook» by Christian Mason on Spotify
Explore the world of Christian Mason, Composer in Residence 2023/24
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