Presented by Leo Samama. Today: String quartets from John Luther Adams.
In the string quartets from John Luther Adams, there is no dialogue between the four instruments, in contrast to most other string quartets. His second string quartet ‘untouched’ from 2015, delivers exactly what the title says: a composition in which the musicians don’t touch the black of the fingerboard (across which the strings go). They solely play separate strings or natural harmonics, e.g. flageolet tones.
The quartet Lines made by Walking from 2019 was inspired by Adams’s many walks in nature, with the walking itself as subject. The work is composed of tempo canons with five, six and seven independent layers. Once he’d composed these fields, he traced pathways across them. A fascinating process, with an even more fascinating result.
John Luther Adams (1953) – untouched (2015)
- Rising, 2. Crossing, 3. Falling
performing: JACK Quartet
CD: Cold Blue Music
John Luther Adams (1953) – Lines Made by Walking (2019)
- Up the Mountain, 2. Along the Ridges, 3. Down the Mountain
performing: JACK Quartet
CD: Cold Blue Music
