Memory Unwrapped: Attacca Quartet - Music of the Fallen

The two-time Grammy Award-winning Attacca Quartet is recognized and acclaimed as one of the most versatile and outstanding ensembles of the moment. A true quartet for modern times, at this performance they glide through classical and contemporary repertoire as one of the world’s most innovative and respected ensembles, playing Mendelssohn, Gabriela Ortiz and George Crumb.

Mendelssohn’s Quartet No. 6 was composed feverishly after the death of his sister, Fanny, and two months before his own untimely passing. It is Felix’s last completed work. This quartet brings to mind the myth of Orpheus’ failed attempt to free his wife Eurydice from Hades’ clutches, if only Eurydice be, instead, Felix’s beloved sister Fanny.

Mujer Ángel, dedicated to the Attacca Quartet, is Gabriela Ortiz’s sonic response to the sensations and emotions embedded in a photograph taken by Graciela Iturbide. Themes represented in the first two movements include the fragility of human existence in the face of nature’s grandeur and the evocation of the intimacy and strength of Seri women, whilst the third movement develops material that makes the listener aware of the presence of the camera and the person behind it.

Black Angels was conceived as a parable on our troubled contemporary world. The image of the black angel was a device used by early painters to symbolise the fallen angel. The underlying structure of Black Angels is a huge arch-like design which is suspended from three threnody pieces. The work portrays a voyage of the soul, and the performers also pay maracas, tam-tams, and water-tuned crystal glasses.