For their next concert, Quatuor Bozzini invites two traditional fiddlers to join them: Sarah-Jane Summers (Scotland / Norway) and Laura Risk (Canada). We hear the Montreal premiere of Water’s Edge (2016), a work of 8 movements for string quartet, Celtic fiddle and electronics by Monty Adkins (UK), the result of Quatuor Bozzini’s research residency at Centre for Research in New Music at the University of Huddersfield (UK) in 2015 and 2016. The piece is based on techniques and melodies of the Hardanger fiddle from Norway’s western coast. A major influence on this music is the Hardangar sound: emphasis on double-stops, drones, and resonance of sympathetic strings. These qualities are prevalent throughout the ensemble and tape parts, creating a ‘meta-violin’ sound.
In the second part of the concert, traditional folk music experts, Sarah-Jane Summers and Laura Risk, present traditional Québecois, Gaelic, Scottish and Norwegian tunes on Celtic and Hardanger violins. Quatuor Bozzini joins them in performance of some original arrangements written by the two musicians.
