Insight

The main objective of this work is to show the unity which exists within the string trio. I was most fascinated to explore string techniques transforming the trio sound to one of a completely different instrument. At the very beginning there is a suggestion of an accordion sound and later of a brass fanfare. The piece is in three inter-linking sections: reflective – lively – stretto of the main musical ideas. The title is a reminder that aiming to visualise sound is one of the most satisfying experiences our imagination can give us through music.

– Dobrinka Tabakova

Quator II

Quatour II (1964) which has today its premiere in Scotland, is a quartet “with voice” similarly conceived to eighteenth century quartets with flutes or oboes: three instruments of the same family associated with a fundamentally different instrument. This fact in no way implies that the voice is called upon to evoke another instrument other than it itself, but only that it assumes “instrumental functions.” The soprano is charged with the upper part of the quartet and acts as a first violin. In the absence of text, the indispensable vocal articulation is created by a flexible set of phonemes acting most often like bow or tongue strokes. Their basic sounds generally involve French pronunciation and spelling. However, in order to avoid any meaningful association in any language, these phonemes have undergone constant variations of form and color. While it becomes “nonsense French”- the one exception is the final word which is in French and pronounced in French which translates to “point” to indicate a final ending and close. 

 At its world premiere, the work was well received: “A single movement of fifteen minutes of a music both concentrated and airy, expressive, lyrical, sometimes tender, but never artificial…” (Maurice Flauret). In 1976, the American painter Joan Mitchell dedicated her painting Quatuor II to Betsy Jolas. 

 From Emily: I remember singing this piece in 2018 in the States and realizing this was a life long piece to master and understand (still ongoing!) It was this same year after first performing it that I went to visit Betsy Jolas in her home in Paris, which has a core memory of her pouring juice in her home for and sharing the intricacies of her wishes for this piece and the history of it. She described certain parts as purposefully written to be “near impossible” (page 10 is an iconic example) for soprano voice to sing and shared as well that her original trio nearly quit due to difficulty. The piece also only rarely is in metered time and much of it requires you to know and breathe with the pacing of the others around you… which poses an incredible for close collaboration. Betsy Jolas is 97 today, and truly deserves to have her music much more widely known worldwide. It was in this meeting with Betsy in 2018 that I shared my dedication and personal desire to perform it again with a trio able to perform it to the level she wishes, with the promise that I would take this piece on, ongoing, to best champion it and support her work. It took 5 years, one failed attempt in Austria, and finally, we have achieved this today with USE at “The Night With…” Festival. 

I Said – Nora Marazaite 

Any live solo performance places both auditory and isvisual focus on the performers onstage. In a way, it’s almost liek the perfomer is deliverying a monologue…

Dobrinka Tabakova – https://www.dobrinka.com/

Lisa Streich – http://www.lisastreich.se/

Betsy Jolas – https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/composer/4468/Betsy-Jolas/