En noir et or, String Quartet n°4
Faithful to his first love for the violin and strings in general, Edith Canat de Chizy composed her String Quartet No. 4 at the request of the "Echo" theaters, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and the Philharmonie de Paris “En noir et or”. A new opus directly inspired by James Whistler's eponymous canvas, between nocturnal shades and bursts of fireworks that were also commented by Debussy ... It is the Van Kuijk Quartet who will give the world premiere of this score on October 23 in Birmingham.
This title refers to the painting by James Abott Whistler, "Night in Black and Gold" / « Nocturne en noir et or », painted in 1875, outlining a firework display. This same painting had seduced Debussy in his second nocturnal "Fêtes".
Here the night is the setting. It is lit up by the party’s flashes, flickers and sparks. The brushstroke is active, effective, we pick up the movement, haste, mystery, fluidity of the painting, all things inherent in my musical writing, where I have often wanted to translate the relationship between pictorial matter and sound material.
It is suggested by the use of strings, a specific musical play: a "light-touch" play, muffled strings, “sul tasto”, “sul ponticello”, “col legno”, the harmonics, etc... this all contributes to giving this quartet a fleeting, hasty, mysterious appeal dominated by the swift movement.
Moreover, I wanted to emphasize the particularly delicate spatial dimension in this painting by using and contrasting different ranges.
Edith Canat de Chizy
Concert dates:
23 Oct. 2017 - Birmingham - THSH
27 Oct. 2017 - Londres - Barbican Center
5 Nov. 2017 - Budapest -Mupa
13 Jan. 2018 - Paris - Philharmonie de Paris
19 Jan. 2018 - Hamburg - Elbphilharmonie
25 Jan. 2018 - Barcelone - Palau de la Musica Catalana
11 Febr. 2018 - Lisbonne - Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
24 Mar. 2018 - Stockolm - Stockolms Konserthus
13 May 2018 - Koln - Kolner Philharmonie
6 Jun. 2018 - Luxembourg - Philarmonie
12 Jun. 2018 - Bruxelles - BOZAR
13 Jun. 2018 - Amsterdam - Het Concertgebouw
1 Jul. 2018 - Baden-Baden - Festspielhaus