JUAN MANUEL MARRERO – STREICHQUARTETTE
About the album
I have always believed that a composer should demonstrate the diversity of his compositional language and engage with contrasting or divergent aesthetics and techniques. In my opinion, the quartets presented in this edition fulfill both of these objectives. Histoire éphémère d’une plume blanche, Atractivo último de lo imposible, and Quatuor pour un tableau (in two parts) are to be understood in the context and tradition of contemporary European timbres and sound textures. In stark contrast to these, and indeed at their aesthetic antipodes, are Two American String Quartets, two repetitive and minimalist pieces.
Zu den Werken
Two American String Quartets: Lives in Central Park (2007)
The idea of exploring American contemporary music came to me quite naturally in New York, USA, when I won the New York City First Prize for Composition in 2003. After three of my works had been performed at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, I composed these two pieces. In the first, each instrumental voice, each rhythmic motif develops its own routine. Just like the people who walk through Central Park again and again.
Two American String Quartets: Hopper’s Nighthawks (2010)
The four strings repeat and exchange their voices in sequence, creating a varied rhythmic and melodic tapestry. Four strings, like the four figures in Hopper's painting: two men with hats, the red-haired girl, and the bartender. Each lives their own story, but all stories are similar and end in the same place: at the bar, behind the glass.
Histoire éphémère d’une plume blanche (2017)
Through a diverse and rich interplay of textures, motifs, colors, and sound shapes, the work is the musical realization of an extremely poetic image: the slow, gradual descent of a feather, with its many twists and turns, until it comes to rest sluggishly on the ground. The work exists in two versions: for wind septet, percussion, and strings—and for string quartet.
Atractivo último de lo imposible (2015)
Precise musical gestures and strokes that gradually build up and then destroy the sound material itself.
Quatuor pour un tableau: première partie (2010)
As the title suggests, this quartet was composed for a painting: El ámbito del Demiurgo (acrylic on canvas, 200 x 400 cm). The work is by the Spanish painter and close friend Juan José Gil (1947–2023). The composition is largely inspired by this painting. The intention was to create correspondences and parallels between sound textures and plastic forms.
Quatuor pour un tableau: deuxième partie (2010)
Expansion and conclusion of the original idea.
About the music
After all this: I have always believed that music must first be heard, then discovered and thus spontaneously assessed or understood before it is explained. Nevertheless, these notes are intended as a brief introduction to this part of my musical work.
Juan Manuel Marrero