The Squid's Ear Magazine


Quatuor Bozzini: Tom Johnson: Combinations (Collection QB)

The Montreal string quartet Quatuor Bozzini (Alissa Cheung-violin, Clemens Merkel-violin, Stephanie Bozzini-viola, Isabelle Bozzini-cello) continue their investigation of avant composers, focusing on American composer Tom Johnson through three works or minimalist precision: "Combinations for String Quartet"; "Tilework" and "Four-Note Chords in Four Voices".
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Tom Johnson-composer

Alissa Cheung-violin

Clemens Merkel-violin

Stephanie Bozzini-viola

Isabelle Bozzini-cello


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UPC: 77102837302

Label: Collection QB
Catalog ID: CQB 2230
Squidco Product Code: 31769

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2022
Country: Canada
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Eglise Saint-Joseph de Riviere-des-Prairies, in Montreal, Canada, on April 26th to 30th, 2021, by James Clemens-Seely.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Like Xenakis, American ex-pat composer Tom Johnson has long been enamored of mathematics, and he's used the practice as the discipline as an integral tool in his compositional work. These string quartets - played with characteristic precision, brio, and warmth by Montreal's Quatuor Bozzini - often deploy the theory of combinations, setting out every possible permutation or sequence from a small amount of material. While that concept might sound like an excursion toward boredom, the results are thrilling. Johnson was an early advocate and pioneer of minimalism, and that interest distinguishes these four works, composed between 1994 and 2009, with a mixture of rigor and curiosity that turns to math as a way of translating the patterns and shapes of the world around us into music. Johnson achieves a particularly vivid realization on the concise Tilework for String Quartet, a 10-minute canon that explores the different ways the rhythms in a six-note line can overlap and fit together.Four-Note Chords in Four Voices is a study of the possible combinations delineated in the title, with the composer's program note explaining that "There are 495 ways to distribute two notes in group," but there's nothing schematic or cold in the way Johnson traces out those possibilities anywhere on the album."-Peter Margasak, Bandcamp Daily



This album has been reviewed on our magazine:

The Squid
The Squid's Ear!

Artist Biographies

"Tom Johnson (born November 18, 1939 in Greeley, Colorado), is an American minimalist composer, a former student of Morton Feldman. He earned his Bachelors and Masters degree from Yale University. His pieces are most often based simply on mathematical and logical processes, such as tiling, which he attempts to make as clear as possible. His works include: The Four Note Opera, An Hour for Piano, Rational Melodies, the Bonhoeffer Oratorio, Organ and Silence, Riemannoper, and Galileo. He has also composed a considerable amount of music for the guitar including Alexandrins pour guitare (1989), Canon for Six Guitars (1998), Arpeggios for Guitar (2002), and Tinkelenberg Rhythms (2014). Johnson received the French "Victoires de la Musique" prize for contemporary composition (the French equivalent of the "Grammies") in 2001 for "Kientzy Loops". He lived 15 years in New York, but in 1983 settled in Paris, where he lives with his wife, the artist Esther Ferrer."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Johnson_(composer))
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

" "... classical music without pretence... " is Alissa Cheung's approach to her multi-faceted career. A native of Edmonton (Alberta) violinist and composer, Ms Alissa Cheung (BSc '07, BMus '09, MM '13), is a tenured member of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (ESO) since 2010 and will move to Montréal in January 2015 to join the Bozzini Quartet.

She has been involved with the Alberta Baroque Ensemble, and has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Canada, USA, Europe and Japan. Career highlights include performances at Carnegie Hall and Suntory Hall, and solos with the ESO and the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Orchestra. Ms Cheung has been featured in Vue Weekly Magazine and Edmonton Sun, and was aired on CBC, CKUA, and WKPN Radio.

An adamant interpreter of new music, Alissa has performed numerous contemporary works and was an Artist in Residence at the Bang on a Can Summer Festival (2011), at the and at the Lucerne Festival Academy (2013).

As a composer, her works have been performed at the Tonus Vivus Festival of New Music (Edmonton), Jordan Hall (Boston), Morse Recital Hall (New Haven, CT), and the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. Upcoming projects include a commission by the Arx Duo and the Bass Line Road Ensemble. Ms Cheung studied composition with Hannah Lash (Yale) and Piotr Grella-Mozejko (Edmonton).

In addition to private teaching, Ms Cheung has been Sessional Instructor at King's University College and faculty member of the Alberta College Conservatory of Music. Educational outreach initiatives include being a Teaching Artist with ESO's Adopt-a-Player Program and with the National Arts Centre's Music Alive Program.

Ms Cheung's principal violin teachers were Marian Moody, Ranald Shean, Broderyck Olson (Edmonton), Thomas Williams (McGill), and Ani Kavafian (Yale). Other influential coaches include Malcolm Lowe, Mark Fewer, Rafael Rosenfeld, Kyoko Hashimoto, and members of the former Tokyo, Juilliard and Concord string quartets."

-Quatuor Bozzini Website (http://www.quatuorbozzini.ca/en/select/bio/?id=cheung_al)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Clemens Merkel's unconventional sound defines a new sensibility in contemporary music, through its intimate purity of tone, its settled understanding of microtonal or unconventional harmonic language, and its unhurried sensitivity. He is well known for innovative interpretations of Bach and John Cage, and is sought after by composers worldwide as an inspiration for new repertoire. His diverse collaborators range from the Wandelweiser collective to Montréal's Musique Actuelle community, and from emerging experimentalists to today's most revered composers.

For over a decade, Merkel's unusual sound has fused with that of the Quatuor Bozzini, considered one of the world's leading string quartets. Together they have mentored an entire generation of creators through the Composer's Kitchen; have released numerous critically acclaimed albums on their collection qb label; undertake multiple tours annually to be featured at festivals worldwide; and maintain a profound impact on the music scene across Canada and Europe in particular. They nourish Montréal audiences with unusual self-produced events that bridge worlds and cross boundaries of style, generation and culture.

Following an early career in Europe, where he contributed to the continent's leading ensembles, Merkel has made Montréal his home since 2000. He supports and advocates for new music in Québec and in Canada, and is regularly sought after as speaker, curator and adviser. His presence is felt in academia as well, through articles written for the Revue Circuit, and through his teaching at Concordia University. He's a passionate chef and lives in Montréal's Portuguese neighborhood together with his wife Isabelle Bozzini and children Félix and Béatrice."

-Quatuor Bozzini website (http://www.quatuorbozzini.ca/en/select/bio/?id=merkel_cl)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Stéphanie Bozzini. Born Montréal, Québec, 1974. Performer (viola)

Stéphanie Bozzini is a founding member of the Bozzini Quartet, a new music string quartet which performs regularly in major festivals throughout Canada, the United States, Europe and South America. Her curiosity and interest in a number of musical styles, from historically informed period instrument playing to contemporary improvisation, have led her to become a remarkably versatile musician.

Solo performances include Huddersfield (UK), Ostrava Days Festival (Czech Rep), NY MUSIK (Sweden), and REDCAT CalArts (Los Angeles). She is principal viola with Arion, and plays regularly with other baroque music groups including Tafelmusik, Theatre of Early Music and SMCQ. Stéphanie has been a long-time collaborator with contemporary ensembles Bradyworks and Kore, as well as Ensemble Lunaire (Zürich). Major orchestral engagements include the Tonhalle of Zurich and the Winterthurer Stadtorchester, and chamber orchestras such as I Musici and Les Violons du Roy. Other chamber music projects have led to performances at The Banff Centre for the Arts, the Tonhalle Zurich, and the Festival des Îles du Bic. Stéphanie Bozzini teaches viola at the Music Department, Concordia University in Montréal."

-Quatuor Bozzini Website (http://www.quatuorbozzini.ca/en/select/bio/?id=bozzini_st)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Isabelle Bozzini. Born Montréal, Québec, 1969. Performer (cello).

A passionate chamber player, cellist Isabelle Bozzini is dedicated to exploring two parallel worlds - new music of all kinds and music on period instruments. This endeavour continuously challenges her and nourishes her artistic aspirations.

She is a founding member of the Quatuor Bozzini which since its inception in 1999 has become one of Canada's leading string quartets on national and international scenes. Playing close to forty concerts per year, the Bozzinis produce their own concert series in Montréal including the Salon des compositeurs + Composer's Kitchen event. They tour several times per year in Europe, the US and Canada and have launched the label collection qb in the Fall of 2004 in collaboration with DAME. Isabelle Bozzini also works with Kore Ensemble, and various improvising artists such as Malcolm Goldstein, François Houle, Benoît Delbecq, Diane Labrosse and Jean Derome. Having collaborated for many years with Joël Thiffault and the Montréal Baroque Orchestra, Isabelle Bozzini now plays regularly with Ensemble Arion. She also plays with Idées Heureuses, Ensemble Caprice, the Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montréal, and French harpsichordist and conductor Hervé Niquet."

-Quatuor Bozzini Website (http://www.quatuorbozzini.ca/en/select/bio/?id=bozzini_is)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Combinations For String Quartet: I 5:05

2. Combinations For String Quartet: II 4:49

3. Combinations For String Quartet: III 4:31

4. Combinations For String Quartet: IV 6:12

5. Combinations For String Quartet: V 5:07

6. Tilework For String Quartet 9:14

7. Four-Note Chords In Four Voices: I 0:27

8. Four-Note Chords In Four Voices: II 1:10

9. Four-Note Chords In Four Voices: III 1:22

10. Four-Note Chords In Four Voices: IV 1:09

11. Four-Note Chords In Four Voices: V 0:38

12. Four-Note Chords In Four Voices: VI 1:11

13. Four-Note Chords In Four Voices: VII 2:16

14. Four-Note Chords In Four Voices: VIII 2:15

15. Four-Note Chords In Four Voices: IX 1:18

16. Four-Note Chords In Four Voices: X 1:11

17. Four-Note Chords In Four Voices: XI 0:27

18. Four-Note ChordsIn Four Voices: XII 1:11

19. Four-Note Chords In Four Voices: Xiii 0:40

20. Four-Note Chords In Four Voices: XIV 1:22

21. Four-Note Chords In Four Voices: XV 0:15

22. Formulas For String Quartet: I 0:46

23. Formulas For String Quartet: II 2:24

24. Formulas For String Quartet: III 3:13

25. Formulas For String Quartet: IV 1:21

26. Formulas For String Quartet: V 2:48

27. Formulas For String Quartet: VI 1:57

28. Formulas For String Quartet: VII 1:31

29. Formulas For String Quartet: VIII 1:04

Related Categories of Interest:


Compositional Forms
Avant-Garde
Stringed Instruments
Quartet Recordings
Musique Actuelle
Canadian Composition & Improvisation
New in Compositional Music
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