program:
Ole Henrik Moe (* 1966)
[01] 13:43 p.m Anchor (2006)
for string quartet and solo violin
Arditti Quartet
Ole Henrik Moe, violin
Saed Haddad (* 1972)
17:26 Joie voilee .
for string quartet
[02] 00:10 Prologue 00:10
[03] 01:00 1. On Purity
[04] 02:06 2. On Happiness
[05] 01:54 3. On Warmth
[06] 01:12 4. On Moderateness
[07] 00:51 5. On Serenity
[08] 01:49 6. On Collectiveness
[09] 00:59 7. On Togetherness
[10] 01:46 8. On the Individual
[11] 01:42 9. On Others
[12] 01:16 10. On Peace
[13] 00:26 11. On Struggle
[14] 00:57 12. On Despair
[15] 00:53 13. On Death
[16] 00:25 Epilogue
Wolfgang Rihm (* 1952)
25:06 act and day (2006)
Two studies for soprano and string quartet
[17] 20:20 Act 1 Andante, molto sostenuto, tenebroso intimissimo
[18] 04:46 Act 2 William Blake: Day. L'istesso tempo
Arditti Quartet
Claron McFadden, soprano
Julio Estrada (* 1943)
[19] 10:34 p.m quotidian (2006)
for voice and string quartet
Arditti Quartet
Julio Estrada, Voice
total 67:27
Arditti Quartet
Irvine Arditti, violin
Ashot Sarkissian, violin
Ralf Ehlers, viola
Lucas Fels, cello
Press:
02/2008
02/2008
10.12.2007
news of the day
Interpretation: 
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Booklets:
Visitors to the Christ Church were able to witness a special event at last year's Donaueschinger Musiktage. A guest at the festival, which is usually particularly devoted to large ensembles, was the Arditti Quartet in a new line-up with four new string quartets, each capable of making a statement of its own. The four musicians delivered a real marathon to their listeners, because they delivered their program three times in a row without any signs of fatigue being felt. A recording of the program has now been released as the first episode of the 2006 Donaueschingen documentation on the young label NEOS.
The beginning of a breathtaking concert was 'Lenger' for solo violin and string quartet by the Norwegian composer Ole-Henrik Moe, in which the composer himself took over the solo part: a ten-minute continuous tremolo in the highest register, with a physicality that made many an arm in the audience ache. In addition to music, Ole-Henrik Moe also studied biophysics and cognitive sciences, so his piece is inspired by scientific phenomena; it is based on theories of neuropsychologist David Marr as a series of almost static icons. The shimmering sound of Moe's violin runs through different timbral stages in the quartet's most diverse noise complexes, all of this in an unheard-of colourfulness, despite the at first glance so uniform shape of the icons. But it is the differences in the details that make 'Lenger' a very unique piece that is worth hearing again and again.
With 'Joie voilée', the young Jordanian Saed Haddad delivered a rather narrative play about different stages of human emotions and social states of being, and at the same time touched on existentialist themes that find their roots in the dialectics of his outsider status: as an Arab, he is still an 'other' within the western cultural context, at the same time as a composer of contemporary music as an 'other' within his own cultural heritage. The work, which consists of fourteen fragments, finds its inspiration in very different tonalities, which combine to form a very unique, contrasting language. The Arditti Quartet succeeds brilliantly in bringing disparate elements together into a coherent whole and never losing the dramaturgical thread. At the same time, in this interpretation, the work announces an emotion that never remains attached to the surface, but is conveyed as a very real one in its well thought-out construction.
'Akt und Tag' by Wolfgang Rihm, two studies for voice and string quartet, appeared, as is so often the case with Rihm, as a color and structurally masterful work, but far less stirring in gesture than his first appearances in Donaueschingen. The core of the first movement consists of a series of static sounds, the singer confines herself to vocalises in the lowest register, the tone of the string quartet is stifled by hotel mutes. In contrast, the much shorter second movement develops an emphatic chant over a text by William Blake, which seems like a liberated concentrate of the first 'act'. Soprano Claron McFadden wowed audiences with a colourful, flexible voice, from dull colored lines in the lowest register to radiant top notes.
The big surprise of the concert, perhaps even one of the most impressive moments of the festival, was the performance of Julio Estrada, who had composed a piece for the Arditti Quartet and his own voice. The sonority of the string quartet seemed remotely inspired by Lachenmann's playing techniques, which, however, led to a completely new, unheard language. Despite all the noisiness of painted wood, an inner melody with rich overtones quickly developed, which found its counterpart in Estrada's voice. His idiosyncratic overtone singing, which ventured into multiphonic regions, his hoarse, rattling vocal sound in extreme colourfulness, showed how much that is new can still be found in the world of the noisy. Estrada doesn't like to call himself a composer, someone who puts things together. He only wants one thing, namely to make music, to help his inner voice to sound. Music lived with such intensity has rarely been experienced in Donaueschingen this year.
The Arditti Quartet also proves its special class in the field of new music with a new line-up - the cellist Lucas Fels is an excellent replacement and the outgoing Rohan de Saram. The mixture of perfection, routine experience and the impression that something new, never heard before is happening on stage at every moment is almost unique in this form. This CD is one of the most rewarding releases of the season, not only as a document of an outstanding concert at the Musiktage, but also as a unique manifesto of contemporary quartet playing.
Paul Huebner
