Between the exploits of the ever-intriguing Constellation roster and Splendid’s frequent and welcome receipt of experimental and avant music courtesy of various public arts councils from north of the border, I’m slowly becoming convinced that everything interesting in instrumental music is being developed by a shadowy cabal of talented Canadians. Sure, this feeling probably just highlights the gaps in my knowledge of similar musics from other regions, but it’s clear that there are some mighty talented, forward-thinking people up yonder.
Quatuor Bozzini, who probably wouldn’t mind too terribly if you wanted to refer to them as the Bozzini Quartet, perform four pieces on Portrait — one that dates back to the late ‘70s and three composed since the turn of the century. The tie that binds the four composers is neither temporal nor thematic, but rather geographical: these four diverse-sounding pieces are each the product of a Montréal-based artist. It’s an interesting approach to building an album, and in fact the connection is subtle enough that it’s possible to enjoy the pieces’ juxtaposition without knowing that they share anything other than the same group of interpreters.
Claude Vivier’s Pulau Dewata kicks off the album with an homage to Bali. It is at turns earthy and effervescent, and ends with a traditional Balinese figure that bears with it the feeling of a benediction. Jean Lesage’s Quatuor a cordes II, the disc’s most ambitious piece, develops its themes through six short movements, each more intriguing than the last. Michael Oesterle’s hypnotic Daydream Mechanics V follows, insistently exploring one repeating figure from all possible angles, sounding like the incantation that induces a higher state of consciousness. The final piece, Malcolm Goldstein’s A New Song of many faces for In These Times, is also by far the most aggressive: whereas the previous pieces had the feel of polite conversation, Goldstein’s scratchy staccato intimations and plinky ripostes only gradually subside into a mournful, solitary keening. It’s deeply affecting, if perhaps overlong.
Here, then, yet another group of young Canadian artists has knocked one out of the park. Apparently Portrait Montréal is only the first in a series of similar albums, each of which will approach thematic unity in a different way. In this way, then, Quatuor Bozzini gives us both something to treasure now, and further delights to look forward to.
