Violin
Violin
Viola
Violoncello
There are few ensembles as closely attuned to the present as the American JACK Quartet—a group the New York Times has called the country’s “leading new-music foursome.” In their Pierre Boulez Saal debut season, the quartet presents a series of three concerts, bringing together some of today’s most creative musical voices. In addition to Iannis Xenakis’s 1978 string trio Ikhoor, the first program includes brand new works by Erin Gee, Eric Wubbels, Cenk Ergün, and George E. Lewis written specifically for the JACK Quartet.
Since 2000, Californian vocal artist and composer Erin Gee has been composing exclusively “Mouthpieces”—a long series of pieces for various line-ups in which the performers work with both their voices and their instruments. Mouthpiece 39 is the latest of the series, which she wrote for the JACK Quartet over the past few months. Her Mouthpiece 22 was performed by the JACK Quartet a few years ago.
Celare by Turkish-American composer Cenk Ergün was written for the JACK Quartet along with its sister work Sonare. While Sonare uses rapid, loud repetitions of dissonant rhythmic patterns to create an almost static sound field, Ergün achieves the same goal in Celare by opposite means: “Celare is a gentle and sparse environment in which simple, transparent harmonies resonate at a hazy intersection of early European and Turkish modal music.”
Iannis Xenakis’s string trio Ikhoor was composed in 1978, making it by far the oldest piece on the program. It’s title is the Greek word for the blood of the gods—a transparent and ethereal liquid, deadly to humans, but at the same time a symbol of power and energy.
© Les Amis de Xenakis / Editions Durant-Salabert-Eschig
Like Cenk Ergün, Eric Wubbels also works with the upper partials of the overtone row in just intonation, but to quite different effects. With its slow, microtonal chord shifts, his latest piece phrēn, written for the JACK Quartet in 2022, makes the passing of time almost physically palpable.
George E. Lewis, one of the world’s most accomplished jazz trombonists and a major proponent of experimental computer music, has taught at New York’s Columbia University since 2004 and was named artistic director of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) in 2022. He wrote his first, “half-sized” string quartet in 2016, followed by four more quartets within six years—the most recent, No. 4.5, was premiered by the JACK Quartet in April.
The program book for the JACK Quartet's concert features works by visual artist Mâkhi Xenakis. She is the daughter of composer Iannis Xenakis, who would have celebrated his 100th birthday this year.
Apaisements pastels sur papier reliure,1994 63x48cm, © Mâkhi Xenakis
Apaisements pastels sur papier reliure,1994 63x48cm, © Mâkhi Xenakis
Apaisements pastels sur papier reliure,1994 63x48cm, © Mâkhi Xenakis
Apaisements pastels sur papier reliure,1994 63x48cm, © Mâkhi Xenakis
