Performers
- String Quartet Hermès
- Jordan Victoria I violin
- Elise Liu II violin
- Lou Yung-Hsin Chang viola
- Yan Levionnois cello
- Emmanuel Strosser piano
Programme
Maurice Ravel String Quartet in F major [32’]
I. Allegro moderato
II. Assez vif, très rythmé
III. Très lent
IV. Vif et agité
Darius Milhaud Création du monde for piano quintet, Op. 81b [17’]
I. Prélude
II. Fugue
III. Romance
IV. Scherzo
V. Final
Concert description
If we look ahead with squinted eyes, shapes quickly begin to lose their edges, and colors merge and blur into shimmering patches of color. This is how the Impressionists of the early 20th century wanted to perceive reality – in its transience, outline, by feeling rather than reason. Music, as the most elusive of the arts, is perhaps even better than painting at conveying this incessancy of vibration, fluidity of color, feeling and sensation. And certainly this is masterfully done by Maurice Ravel in his String Quartet. The world seen through his eyes is beautiful and fragile, but not random – underneath the delicate coating is a thoughtful, well-balanced classical structure.
Ravel wrote his Quartet in 1903, and twenty years later Darius Milhaud created his own original musical vision of the world – from its very beginnings. African mythology became the stimulus for this theme, while American jazz and blues became the direct inspiration. Milhaud’s world emerges from the darkness, from dense and disturbing matter, to soon dazzle with a multitude of colors, luscious harmonies and rhythms. If only the reality around us were so danceable, light, joyful and charming?
– Karolina Dąbek (pisanezesluchu.pl)