Contrazontal is a group of 6 NE-based composers and performers writing and performing contemporary music. It was founded during lockdown in spring 2020 with the aim of creating a regular presence for contemporary music in the North-East of England; giving locally based composers and performers with international careers an opportunity to pursue their work closer to home. Their aim is to share engaging, adventurous, invigorating, and well-crafted music with the North-East public, stretching the boundaries of our art both wider and further, while bringing something truly unique to the region.
Programme:
00:22 Rob King: Channels (WP)
13:07 Eric Skytterholm Mac Aodhagáin: Les Pleurs (WP)
26:39 Egidija Medekšaitė: Pashyanti (WP)
35:09 Mark Carroll: if you met your Doppelgänger, what would they say to you? (WP)
Marie Schreer, violin/viola
John Garner, violin/viola
Gemma Kost, cello
John Snijders, piano
John Garner introduces the programme here:
• Contrazontal | About t...
Mark Carroll talks about the formation of the group:
• Contrazontal | About t...
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Rob King: Channels (2020-21)
Whilst not explicitly about the pandemic, “channels“ describes the different modes of communication or personal observation that we have all most likely experienced over the past 18 months. Determined partly by chance, the material is played according to different paths which the players must choose - occasionally resulting in consonances, but at other times invoking harsh dissonance or silence, as a metaphor for the detachment and disruption from regular modes of human interaction.
The work was commissioned with funds from the RVW Trust.
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Eric Skytterholm Mac Aodhagáin: Les Pleurs (2020-21)
“Les Pleurs” is based on the 17th century work by Sainte-Colombe, by the same name. The piece is, like the underlying work, a lament.
"That voice was a lamentation. Calmer now. It’s in the silence after you feel you hear. Vibrations. Now silent air."
"ofttimes the beauty of poetry, so sad in its transient loveliness, had misted her eyes with silent tears"
"Coffin now. Got here before us, dead as he is. Horse looking round at it with his plume skeowways... Do they know what they cart out here every day? Must be twenty or thirty funerals every day... Funerals all over the world everywhere every minute. Shovelling them under by the cartload doublequick. Thousands every hour. Too many in the world. Mourners came out through the gates: woman and a girl. Girl’s face stained with dirt and tears." James Joyce | Ulysses
"Que m'importe que tu sois sage?
Sois belle! Et sois triste! Les pleurs
Ajoutent un charme au visage,
Comme le fleuve au paysage;
L'orage rajeunit les fleurs."
Charles Baudelaire | Madrigal Triste
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Egidija Medekšaitė: Pashyanti (2020-21)
There are four states of Nada (flow of consciousness), of which on one is called Pashynati, and occurs during the deep sleep.
In this piece I wanted to explore the soundless sounds in such a way as we would experience the state of Pashynati. Some particular sounds, which can’t be heard, but can be seen.
Anahata Nada (un-struck sound) forms permanent numerical patterns which are the basis of the world’s existence. For this reason I have created numerical gestures, which are based on various number patterns.
The work was supported by the Lithuanian Council for Culture (2020)
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Mark Carroll - If you met your Doppelgänger, what would they say to you? (2020-21)
Struggling against depression and isolation, Schubert whispers weakly through Mark Carroll’s piece, like a cracked signal on a broken radio. On stage, each player presents a different Doppelgänger of ‘the musician’, isolated in each other's company. Mark's pieces often combine theatricality with psychoanalytic human dyamics, presenting the musicians in such physical/positional/interactive ways that we unconsciously connect with the raw 'content' of the humanity they present. Here, each player presents a different aspect of 'the musician': the spotlit cellist shows the soloist or 'maestro', the violinist shows the role of caring for or maintaining their antique instrument, while the harpsichord player stands committed to raw sound creation. The viola player shows that aspect we do not often see: the musician's vulnerability as they must continue to obey the demands of their art, keep practising, and strive to achieve and maintain excellence, despite being subject to the same human difficulties and weaknesses as we are.
The work was commissioned with funds from the RVW Trust.
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Audio recording: Martin Allison
Video recording and editing: Simone Tarsitani
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