Borrowed Landscapes

In the hall of Verspielt, Karl-Marx-Str. 35, 15712 Zernsdorf / Königs Wusterhausen

Program:
Carola Bauckholt [1958, DE] – Lichtung (2011)
Yves Chauris [1980, FR] – Shakkei (2012)
Julio Estrada [1943, MX] – Yuunohui’se’ome’yei (1983–1990)
Ondrej Adamek [1979, CZ] – Lo que no’contamo’ (String Quartet No. 2, 2010)

This program brings together a diverse selection of contemporary compositions that explore both natural landscapes and emotional soundscapes, as well as extended expressive possibilities for the string quartet. In striking stylistic variety, all four works share a sensitive exploration of the interplay between nature and emotion, form and expression: Bauckholt’s naturalistic sonic landscapes, Chauris’s quiet sound-paintings, Estrada’s concept based on x/y-graphs, and Adamek’s dynamic flamenco textures show the quartet in its element. Like a thread running through the program, sound spaces are created where the boundaries between the outer world and inner feeling begin to dissolve.

Lichtung (2011) by German composer and emeritus university professor Carola Bauckholt places the audience in the middle of an imaginary forest. Bauckholt brings birdcalls, insect buzzing, and other natural sounds to life, using the sound possibilities of the string quartet to imitate and reinterpret them. The lines between nature and music blur, creating a compelling acoustic experience.

Shakkei (2012) by French composer Yves Chauris, who teaches at the Paris Conservatoire among other institutions, draws on the Japanese concept of “borrowed landscape,” in which views of distant scenes are integrated into the total artwork of a garden. Chauris refers to the famous haiku by Bashō:
“shizukasa ya, iwa ni shimiiru, semi no koe”
(“Such stillness— / the cries of the cicadas / sink into the rocks”).

With subtle harmonic layering and finely crafted sound textures, Chauris creates a musical landscape of great stillness and inner tension.
(Source: https://www.yveschauris.com/shakkei/ – accessed 27.9.24)

The composition Yuunohui’se’ome’yei, by internationally renowned Mexican composer Julio Estrada, is designed to be performed with the musicians positioned throughout the space. It is part of the Yuunohui series for various solo instruments that can be combined in different ways. Estrada works with the permutation and fusion of musical parameters into a micro-timbre. In each instrument, five graphs are assigned to different parameters (bow changes, contact point, pitch, dynamics, vibrato), such that changes in a graph simultaneously affect several parameters. The variants Yuunohui’se, Yuunohui’ome, and Yuunohui’yei are the solo pieces for violin, viola, and cello, respectively. All sections follow the same structural plan with the exception of the introduction and finale. The Kairos Quartet’s version presents a complete but spatially distributed performance of the violin solo, combined with parts from Yuunohui’ome and Yuunohui’yei.

Closing the program is the vibrant and humorous Lo que no’contamo’ (2010) by Czech composer Ondrej Adamek, who (in part through his studies with Gilbert Amy) often works with spectral techniques. The piece is inspired by his encounters with flamenco during his stays in Spain. Adamek describes the composition as a free and transformed interpretation of typical flamenco elements: melancholic melodies, guitar-like gestures, intense emotions, and sudden shifts in expression. The central melodic line, which appears in fragmented form in the first half, is transformed into natural harmonics in the second half. Adamek experiments with extended techniques such as holding the violin like a guitar, pizzicato in various parts of the instrument, and rapid glissandi that imitate the vibrating timbre of flamenco.
(Source: https://ondrejadamek.com/listen/lo-que-no-contamo/ – accessed 27.9.24)

Made possible by the Association for Unusual Sound (Verein für den ausgefallenen Klang e.V.) with funding from the Ministry of Science, Research, and Culture of Brandenburg (MWFK Brandenburg).