Sofia Gubaidulina - String Quartet No. 4 (1993) with tape

Sofia Gubaidulina - String Quartet No. 4 (1993) with tape Composer: Sofia Gubaidulina (1931 - 2025) Performers: Quatuor Molinari _______________________________________________ "In the mid-1970s Gubaidulina, with colleagues Viatcheslav artyomov and Victor Suslin, formed an improvisation trio that performed on non-Western instruments drawn from the rich folk traditions of various Soviet nationalities (she played mostly percussion). Always on the lookout for new sounds they collected toy instruments and invented their own devices. One of these was an unusual mallet consisting of a rubber ball attached to a flexible steel string. Gubaidulina deployed it two decades later in her Fourth String Quartet (1993), commissioned by the american avant-garde Kronos Quartet shortly after her immigration to Germany. Taking full advantage of the multi-media 'show' that characterizes a typical Kronos appearance, the single movement comprises three 'sound layers': two recorded for later playback (A & B) combined with the live quartet (C). In performance, the Fourth Quartet, like the First, also includes a visual component—though optional—consisting of coloured light projections. Prerecorded quartet B gets things going, its viola stuttering quietly on a narrow range of pitches using the rubber-ball device. The viola of precorded quartet A, tuned up a quarter-tone, enters in imitation. The remaining prerecorded instruments join in gradually, those in a echoing B in strict canon, the eerie, subdued composite soundscape ever unchanging. Meanwhile quartet C—the live ensemble—interjects, its tempos conflicting with the background recorded texture, and its utterances increasingly aggressive until, exhausted, the ensemble crumples onto a unison middle C. From the ensuing silence (here the recordings stop) a reversal takes place: the live quartet now reconstructs the recorded ones by playing quietly with rubber balls and incorporating quarter-tones. Gubaidulina is 'a genius of narrative, marshalling sounds in a free, vital, and unstoppable procession' writes the critic Alex Ross. As to what stories she tells, it is hard to say. Commenting on the 1997 Chicago premiere of her Viola Concerto, he observes that 'the music exerts great pressure of significance; meanings are felt, if not grasped. Spiritual exhilaration is followed by intellectual panic.'" ~Robert Rival Source: CD booklet _________________________________________________________________ For education, promotion and entertainment purposes only. If you have any copyrights issue, please write to unpetitabreuvoir(at)gmail.com and I will delete this video.