The four parts of the piece originate from the piano cycles of Johannes Brahms. The identical nature of the themes is implied in their descending direction, while their differences lie in their distinct meters, key signatures and tempo. I further developed the differences through the use of different musical alterations (of melody, rhythm and timbre) while the melodic contours are always constant. Depending on the listeners attention, the melody lines written above one another will be audible separately or appear to be in unison. / Quatuor A Cordes

Avec les acteurs de la chaîne sérieux ce compositeur letton reconnaît depuis longtemps en raison de ses concepts tonales sonores et son idiome modale, parfois aléatoire. Fonctionne comme ' Cantabile per Archi ' ou ' Musica dolorosa ' est déjà assez bien connue, mais des morceaux plus récents comme le Concerto pour violon avec orchestre à cordes ' Fernes Licht ', commandée par Gidon Kremer pour sa Kremerata Baltica, gagnent aussi en exposition échelle internationale. Le genre du Quatuor à cordes est bien représenté en sortie de Vasks. Le 2e Quatuor 'Summer Tunes' (ED 8512) a été publié depuis un certain temps et la 3ème a été créée par le Kronos Quartet, qui étaient tellement enthousiaste qu'ils a commandé un 4e Quatuor. En 1996, invité par un enregistrement complet de tous ses quatuors par le Quatuor À cordes de Miami de conifères Records Vasks totalement révisé son début 1er Quatuor 1996, il est ici présenté pour la première fois dans une édition imprimée. / Quatuor A Cordes

Impressions On Beethoven's Harp Quartet. Par AMANTI LUCIO. When Cuarteto Casals approached me with the idea of illuminating Beethoven´s quartets anew, you can imagine the many thoughts and feelings that where going through my mind: what a joy, what a great honor… What an intriguing head-scratcher! How can you possibly shine a new light on something that is already perfect? Weeks, months went by in search of a common ground between the Master and myself until I finally found it in the realization that a word lays “hidden” in the St. John’s hymn that gave musical notes their original name: ‘Re, Sol, Ut, Io’ (D, G, C, B in English music notation) Perfect! “Resolutio” in Latin means both the resolution of a problem and the re-solution: a re-blend of many elements that will eventually coagulate to make something new. There was finally the melodic and a rhythmical canvas for my piece. On this canvas I wrote the story of a funny little contest, played on a sunny Mediterranean square, between street musicians and Cuarteto Casals just minutes before they are about to go on stage to perform Beethoven´s “Harp Quartet”. After all the characters, each in his own way, had the chance to tell their story, a gentle rain starts to fall, dissolving (Re-solving) again the music sheet to eventually leave us with just a white piece of paper for somebody else to continue the Work. (Lucio Franco Amanti) / Niveau : Avancé / Répertoire / 2 Violons, Alto et Violoncelle

Par SCHLEE THOMAS DANIEL. For composer Thomas Daniel Schlee, the 'intimate sound possibilities of the string quartet” have the potential 'to formulate an, albeit 'only' individual, solution to the somewhat forlorn condition of new art music within society that we are unfortunately experiencing today.” Schlee's Fourth String Quartet opens with a pure C major sound, out of which he develops a harmonically free band of voices: 'The pure as a source, not pleasing”! After a melodically dominating episode and a continuation of the 'swinging tone-motion from the beginning”, a thematically solidified section follows. It is met by a second, more extensive melodic episode, followed by a 'nightly scene”. Coming full circle, the opening music of the piece finds its continuation, leading into a lament – first articulated by the ensemble, then finally as 'the viola's long, forlorn search for the melody symbolizing a farewell.”/ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

Par ADAMS JOHN LUTHER. John Luther Adams' Everything That Rises for String Quartet. John Luther Adams' Everything That Rises for String Quartet. Composers note: I never imagined I would write a string quartet. Then I heard the JACK Quartet, and I understood how Imight be able to make the medium my own. The result was The Wind in High Places - a twenty-minute work composed entirely on natural harmonics and open strings. Over the next few years, twomore quartets followed. The second quartet, untouched, is a further exploration of the aeolian sound world of the first. Then, in Canticles of the Sky, the musicians finally touch the fingerboards of theirinstruments. And now comes Everything That Rises . This fourth quartet is more expansive, both in time and in space. It grows out of Sila: The Breath of the World - aperformance-length choral/orchestral work composed on a rising series of sixteen harmonic clouds. Everything That Rises traverses this same territory, but in a much more melodic way. Each musician isa soloist, playing throughout. They surround the audience. Time floats. Over the course of an hour, the lines spin out - always rising - in acoustically perfect intervals that grow progressively smaller as they spiralupward... until the music dissolves into the soft noise of the bows, sighing. Duration: 60 minutes/ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes