The Auditorio de Tenerife, as part of its Chamber Music Cycle, presents the concert Impresiones parisinas, by the Van Kuijk Quartet.

Impresiones parisinas

The string quartet was considered the highest form of chamber music for several centuries, as it offers endless possibilities for exploration, ranging from sophisticated, complex compositions to freer forms. For me, it remains very much a challenge and is always an aesthetically thrilling adventure.

Ten years after composing my first string quartet (Empreintes in 2014), I had the opportunity to hear the Van Kuijk Quartet and to immerse myself anew in this world. I was enthralled immediately by the ensemble’s originality and relevance. I had to compose five pieces, freely drawing on Poulenc, Fauré, Ravel, Satie and Debussy and keeping in mind at all times the language of the French melody that they, in particular, had cultivated (which was none other than the forerunner of the chanson that would later be developed).

Anything was possible: dreamlike allegories, interpretive colours and styles, certain clever references or quotes, ambiences and contrasts. The only condition was that I had to be true to myself, although I find it harder and harder to do things any other way.

The result is a loving evocation in which I took all necessary liberties to ensure the pleasure of writing, to satisfy certain desires and to fantasise with sounds and certain types of rhythmic unrest. All of these desires were more than fulfilled during the first rehearsals of the Van Kuijk Quartet, brimming with lyricism, precision, joy and sonorous beauty.

I also found it amusing to add from time to time some allusions to ‘American music’ (even Radiohead in one piece!), but I also had to ask myself what they would have written if they had been born a few decades later.

The five interconnected pieces are conceived as an arch (fast-slow-fast-slow-fast) but can also be played separately as miniatures.

Baptiste Trotignon, 2024