MULTI-STORY CHAMBER: PIECES FOR STRING QUARTET BY CRUMB / RAVEL
31. 07. 2016 7:00 PM
RAVEL – String Quartet in F
CRUMB – Black Angels for Electric string quartet (movement II and part of III)
Old Reinlender from Sønndala (Norwegian folk tune)
It is said that if you don’t know where you come from, you don’t know where you are going. Rewind to the 1800’s in France with vibrant music from impressionist Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet. Like most music that pushes the boundaries in its time, it received much disapproval. The piece was rejected by the Paris Conservatoire and Ravel dedicated the work to his teacher, Gabriel Fauré, who called the last movement, “stunted, badly balanced, in fact a failure.” This music, inspired by Asian gamelan, impressionism and jazz, broke established rules and created a new path for the direction of music; it is now regarded as one of the greats of the repertoire.
Next the string quartet delve into the dark world of American composer George Crumb with excerpts from his electric string quartet Black Angels subtitled “13 images from the dark land”. With its explosive use of noise and voices, resonant gongs, Black Angels was conceived as a kind of parable on our troubled contemporary world. To conclude our journey, an ancient traditional Norwegian folk song, “Old Reinlender” from Sonndala will be performed with a twist of improvisation and modern groove. The string quartet performs as part of Multi-Story Orchestra’s chamber music series in the Hay Bale Auditorium.
With Amarins Wierdsma, Michael Jones (violins), Clifton Harrison (viola) and Abel Selaocoe (cello)
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