We are pleased to invite you on 13 October to come discover Quintette by Eric Tanguy, commissioned by the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris / Alfred Cortot. Served by first-class performers (David Lively, Florian Szigeti, Annick Roussin, Pierre Lenert and Anssi Karttunen) the composer, also celebrated last month at the Besançon-Franche Comté International Music Festival, elaborates upon his latest composition:  

"Since 2017, I have had the pleasure of teaching composition at the Ecole Normale de Musique of Paris / Alfred Cortot. When Françoise Noël-Marquis, the institution’s wonderful director, asked me for a new work for this prestigious institution’s centenary celebration, I immediately thought of a Quintet for piano and strings. With the idea of a dizzying confrontation with the masterpieces of the past for this ensemble in mind, I began writing this score in 2018 and completed the work in early 2019.

From a structural point of view, the work, as a whole, is divided into three distinct sections that follow one another.

The initial character of the work, mysterious at first and then intense and pulsating, is transformed into a lyrical and meditative moment. The score then closes with a frantic, jubilant and tumultuous finale.

A dialogue is established throughout the score between the piano and the string quartet through multiple and constantly renewed situations. The harmonic modality, characteristic of my work as a composer, impresses upon the melodic and rhythmic textures a singular colour evoking a distant poetic and imaginary elsewhere."

Éric Tanguy - Quintette
for piano &string quartet
World premiere: October 13, 2019
École Normale de Musique de Paris / Alfred Cortot
David Lively, piano
Florian Szigeti, violin
Annick Roussin, violin
Pierre Lenert, viola
Anssi Karttunen, cello

US Premiere: April 9, 2022
The Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts (Los Angeles, USA)
Suzana Bartal, piano
Calder Quartet
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