Composed between 1926 and 1939, "Mikrokosmos" was Bela Bartok's attempt to solve certain technical problems in the art of piano playing, here adapted by the 5-piece Quartetski into a fascinating series of progressive exercises and etudes, oddly enough presented without a piano.
Format: CD Condition: New Released: 2016 Country: Canada Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold Recorded at Studio Resther, in Montreal, Canada, on March 29th and 30th, 2015 by Bernard Grenon.
4. Livre I: XI. Mouvement parallele avec changement de position 4:52
5. Quatre melodies a l'unisson: IV. Quatre melodies a l'unisson (IV) 0:17
6. Livre I: XVII. Imitation et inversion (II) 1:47
7. Livre I: XVII. Repetition (II) 1:07
8. Livre II: VI. Accompagnement en accords brises 2:42
9. Livre II: X. Meditation 2:06
10. Livre I: XIX. Rythme syncope (II) 0:33
11. Livre II: XXIII. L'Extreme-Orient 1:54
12. Livre III: VII. Sixtes et accords 0:35
13. Livre II: XI. En augmentant - en diminuant 0:58
14. Livre II: XIII. En mode mixolydien 2:34
15. Livre II: XXI. Melodie en dixiemes 1:18
16. Livre II: XXIV. Majeur et mineur 2:10
17. Livre III: X. Triolets 0:36
18. Livre III: XV. Hommage a Robert Schumann 0:52
19. Livre II: XXVII. Bourdonnement 0:45
20. Livre III: VII. Chanson hongroise 1:20
21. Bartok s'explique 0:53
22. Livre II: Dialogue 0:43
23. Livre III: II. Danse hongroise 0:37
24. Livre III: IV. Melodiecontre double-cordes 1:22
25. Makrokosmos 9:19
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descriptions, reviews, &c.
"Quartetski goes back to basics with this adaptation of progressive exercises and études by the great Béla Bartók. Composed between 1926 and 1939, Mikrokosmos was Bartók's attempt to solve certain technical problems in the art of piano playing. By taking on this work, Quartetski proves once again that it is a good little pupil. Even without a piano."-Ambiances Magnetiques
"Founded by Pierre-Yves Martel in 2007, Quartetski rethinks and reinterprets the works of great composers in an improvised setting. While staying true to the spirit of these composers, the ensemble uses the compositions as laboratories for sonic experimentation. Ecletic instrumentation and an improvised setting make for a left-field approach to chamber music, that melds styles to arrive at a sometimes chaotic, sometimes challenging and always captivating performance. Listeners familiar with the original compositions will find these experimental re-workings are surprising and exciting, and new ears will be just as engaged and entertained."-Quartetski Website
"Turning another page in its scorebook filled with the themes of composers from the so-called classical music cannon, Montreal-based Quartetski - now a quintet - Does Bartok, on Mikrikosmos Sz 107 (Ambiances Magnetiques AM 224 CD). It reconfigures to group improvisation piano pieces composed by Hungarian Bela Bartok (1881-1945) to synthesize musical and technical problems. Bartok, who was as attuned to Magyar folk music as his contemporary Arnold Schoenberg was to serialism, could never have imagined Quartetski's instrumental make-up, unless he was also a futurist. The band is reedist Philippe Lauzier, guitarist Bernard Falaise, violinist Joshua Zubot, drummer Isaiah Ceccarelli and Pierre-Yves Martel, playing electric bass and synthesize. Like films whose interpretation of a literary source is radically different, but representative, Quartetski's 25-track variant of the oeuvre adding jazz, folk, rock and electronic inflections must be judged on its own. One reductionist way to approach this material is to itemize how often and quickly musical currents appear and disappear. For instance take the many transitions which are evident during the sequenced five tracks: En mode mixolydien #48, Unisson divise #52, Melodie en dixiemes #56, Majeur et mineur #59, Triolets #75 and Hommage a Robert Schumann #80. Near-Heavy Metal thuds and clangs struggle for space alongside pastoral reed notes and high-European string swells. Later, like a space ship from the future landing in primitive times, contemporary timbres are subsumed beneath electronic loops. Paradoxically, when the themes are more obtuse, a buoyant melody is created where rugged, Eastern European dance inferences mix up with crinkly guitar flanges. Similar schematic diagrams could be constructed for other sequences which append inferences including Hawaiian guitar-styled licks to an electric bass line reminiscent of Stax-Volt. But the key linkage appears among other tracks, Six melodies a l'unisson, Notes pointees, #7, Mains alternees #10, Mouvement parallele#11 and Danse hongroise #68 plus Melodie contre double-cordes #70. Prominent among the calliope-like motifs and synthesizer smears is an arching narrative that by the end adds Prairie hints to the Magyar countryside. Quartetski's originality is confirmed on the group-composed title track. Like the inevitability of waves hitting and receding from the shore, the performance bonds string sweeps, aviary reed whistles and an electric undertow into tremolo washes. The CD confirms that the quintet can positively transform a revered composer's supposedly unalterable work."-Ken Waxman, The WholeNote