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String Quartet
2022
13 min.
Cello
Viola
Violin
More Details
- Program Notes
- In like knotted strings, I looked to the work of Jorge Luis Borges, whose literature often tackles themes relating to infinity, labyrinths, and intertextuality. Having established a basic ‘library’ of sound gestures and microtonal chords, I wrote a piece in which I flesh out these materials and explore a handful of their possibilities, with quasi-quotations which provide a glimpse of a musical composition which may or may not exist in a different timeline. In keeping with the Borgesian themes that inspired the work, the piece presents multiple versions of certain passages. Each version leads to a different outcome, which may or may not lead (back) to another version of that same idea. Gestures and harmonies are re-contextualised and presented as half-remembered recollections. As far as a reading of the form of the work is concerned, one may approach the work from different angles, all of which are equally legitimate. In the grand scheme of the structure, each of the four members (or narratives) of the quartet follows their own paths as the music progresses. Sometimes these parts converge in a rhythmically, harmonically, or gesturally homogenous fashion, only to diverge later on. This aspect of the work presented the greatest challenge for me, as I sought to establish the meta-narrative of the music whilst ensuring the work stands as a cohesive whole. — Njabulo Phungula
- Recording Notes
- Recorded at Galerie Rabus (Plantage 13), Bremen, Germany on 18 February 2024. Performed by PULSE: Johannes Haase (violin I), Lola Rubio (violin II), Yuko Hara (viola), Jakob Nierenz (cello)
- Record Label
- N/A
- Ensemble Name
- PULSE: Johannes Haase (violin I), Lola Rubio (violin II), Yuko Hara (viola), Jakob Nierenz (cello)