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Alpenstrasse (Quartet Sketches)

(2024)

for string trio and motorised violin

Program notes

I am fascinated by imperfect technologies — the clunky, the vintage, the inefficient, the unstable. I find there are wonderful inherent dramatic and emotional qualities embedded into these flawed machines, as well as very exciting potential for unexpected surprises in their creative exploration and manipulation. When I received the information that my instrumentation for the 2024 International Young Composers Academy in Ticino would consist of a string trio alongside an external performer, I was immediately drawn to the idea of transforming my own violin into a homemade 'machine', using motors and other mechanical tools to extract sound out of it, and presenting it on stage on an equal level as the trio of acoustic instruments, played ‘traditionally' by experienced professionals. I found the notion of this particular string quartet setup incredibly compelling and stimulating — an encounter between human and machine, technique and limitation, refination and roughness, experience and amateurism; a musical situation with room for the unplanned and unexpected to emerge, with the potential for both realms to challenge, recontextualise and elevate the other.

Following a period of practical tryouts and hands-on experimentation, the final result presented here consists of a series of 'sketches', interconnected slow explorations of collective masses of sound, which I intend to act as a stepping stone for a much longer piece in which the sonic interactions between the trio and the motorised violin can be more exhaustively explored.

Premiered by JACK Quartet and Levy Lorenzo in LAC (Lugano. CH) as part of the 2024 International Young Composers Academy in Ticino.

Duration: c. 10'

Performance

14.07.2024 – IYCA Ticino 2024, LAC (Lugano, CH)

        Performers: Levy Lorenzo & JACK Quartet (Christopher Otto, John Pickford Richards, Jay Campbell)

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© 2023 José del Avellanal Carreño

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