Christian Wolff (1934-)
Quatuor à cordes "Exercises out of Songs"
Quatuor à cordes n° 5 "Out of KilterFor 2 violonists, violist and cellist

Quatuor Bozzini

Clemens Merkel, violon
Alissa Cheung, violon
Stéphanie Bozzini, alto
Isabelle Bozzini, violoncelle

En trois pièces d’époques différentes (1974-76, 2008, 2019), le Quatuor Bozzoni (qui inaugure les deux plus récentes et s’approprie la plus ancienne, très peu jouée jusque-là) suit la ligne de développement de Christian Wolff (1934-), cet Américain d’adoption né à Nice, selon laquelle l’ensemble est amené, à certains moments, à jouer de façon coordonnée (comme le fait traditionnellement un quatuor à cordes) et, à d’autres (souvent dans la même pièce), à se comporter comme s’il s’échappait vers une ligne d’horizon signant son propre égarement. String Quartet Exercices Out Of Songs date de la période où Wolff, éveillé aux questions politiques et sociales, en imprègne sa musique (chants communiste chinois, révolutionnaire ou de solidarité syndicale) et For 2 Violinists, Violist, And Cellist est au départ un duo, que le compositeur transforme pour répondre à la commande du Quatuor Bozzini, sorte de puzzle qui trouve finalement son intégrité dans l’interprétation, plus que sur la partition. Enfin, Out Of Kilter (String Quartet 5) sonne à la fois comme une pièce complexe et plus classique – même si les enchaînements entre les neuf sections peuvent sembler hasardeux. (Bernard Vincken)

Starting with his music of the 1960s and early 1970s, with works such as For 1, 2 or 3 People (1964), the Prose Collection (1968–71), and Changing the System (1974), Christian Wolff (b. 1934) quietly re-invented chamber music. He created music in which the activities of the performers— timing, cueing, assembling and selecting materials—were foregrounded. Although to some extent these activities were always a part of classical music, Wolff opened them up for creative decision-making by the musicians themselves. Charles Ives began to develop a different conception with (among other works) his String Quartet No. 2 (1913). It portrays four individuals who come together to have a discussion that turns into an argument (presumably over politics) and then its transcendental resolution in the mountains. With Ives and then others from the American Experimental Tradition (including John Cage), chamber music starts to become a place where differences are unleashed. Given his exploration of the ontology of people making music together, the string quartet, laden as it is with the tradition of unity, might not at first seem to be an obvious fit to Wolff’s sensibilities. But his quartet music stems as much from Ives and Cage as from the European art music tradition. The four characters of Ives become four people playing music. In one piece he simply calls them “2 violinists, violist and cellist.” Sometimes they are asked to coordinate like a traditional quartet. But at other times (often in the same piece), they are pushed to the point of dissolution. Here we find a music that allows for the spontaneous expression of four musicians who are bound together by something more than the rule of the bar line. These are all world-premiere recordings.