A special combination that of four strings and four saxophonists in Jürg Frey: Continuité, fragilité, résonance, a combination you rarely hear, but which allows Frey to create beautiful sound works. An entirely different work, then, from that ’Les Signes Passages’. Frey himself says about this piece: “Music can also have its starting point in silence, yes, even more, this silence can be the foundation of an entire composition. In this sense, the new piece will work with sound movements and stillness, but always develop these phenomena out of silence and lead them back into silence, thus creating its own acoustic reality of concentration and deepening.” And very special how those sounds here interlock, complement and overlap into impressive harmonic structures. There is hardly any melody here, and even less rhythm, but Frey still manages to captivate us as listeners with these clouds of sound. And as we get further into the piece, the diversity increases, the soundscape becomes more dynamic.
Translated from Dutch.
Original text
Een bijzondere combinatie die van vier strijkers en vier saxofonisten in Frey: Continuité, fragilité, résonance, een combinatie die je zelden hoort, maar Frey in de gelegenheid stelt om prachtige klankwerken te creëren. Een geheel ander werk dus dan dat ‘Les Signes Passages’. Frey zegt zelf over dit stuk: “Music can also have its starting point in silence, yes, even more, this silence can be the foundation of an entire composition. In this sense, the new piece will work with sound movements and stillness, but always develop these phenomena out of silence and lead them back into silence, thus creating its own acoustic reality of concentration and deepening.” En heel bijzonder hoe die klanken hier in elkaar grijpen, elkaar aanvullen en overlappen tot indrukwekkende harmonische structuren. Van melodie is daarbij nauwelijks sprake, van ritme al helemaal niet, maar Frey weet ons als luisteraar toch sterk te boeien met deze klankwolken. En naarmate we verder komen in het stuk neemt de diversiteit toe, wordt het geluidsbeeld dynamischer.
