The meeting between Duo Klexs and HYPER DUO was an obvious choice. Both ensembles are adept at original creations, performative programmes and innovative concepts, and for several years now they have been making a name for themselves in the teeming world of Swiss and European contemporary music.
This collaboration begins with ‘Strata’, the only Swiss work to date in the repertoire of this atypical quartet. Composed by Martin Jaggi in 2011, this acoustic piece is made up of different musical strata superimposed like a sedimentary slab.
These four instruments form a unique combination with explosive potential, infinitely variable colours and almost seismic power. Continuing in this vein, and bringing it up to date with today’s technical possibilities, the basic instrumentarium is enhanced by an additional layer – electronics – which is developed within two major creations that complete the programme.
The Belarusian composer Oxana Omelchuk is composing a new work using extracts of sound recordings taken directly from Strata as the basic musical material. Like an augmented remix, these sound objects are deconstructed and reinvented – to the point of becoming unrecognisable – in dialogue with the quartet’s writing. To do this, the quartet takes on a different face: a viola and a saxophone filtered by effects pedals, and a synthesiser and drums augmented by sensors.
Martin Jaggi is composing a new work that resonates with his first composition. Like a current look at his own music, this piece is like a malleable terrain in which the different movements and reactions at times hint at memories of his work Strata: a contemporary plunge into the stratum of his own compositional style, ten years earlier. To achieve this complex challenge, Martin uses all the tools at his disposal, i.e. the whole of the available instrumentarium, and skilfully plays with the acoustic and electronic mix.
TOUR DATES -> CLICK HERE
Program:
Martin Jaggi (CH 1978*)
Strata – for viola, saxophone, piano and percussion – 10′
Oxana Omelchuk (BLR 1975*)
Grattage III – for viola, saxophone, synthesizers, drums and electronics – 20′ (premiere)
Martin Jaggi (CH 1978*)
Stratum – for viola, saxophone, piano, synthesizers, percussion and electronics – 20′ (premiere)
Duo Klexs | Silke Strahl (sax) and Léa Legros Pontal (viola) www.duoklexs.com
Sound engineer | Maxime le Saux
Fotos | Pablo Fernandez