George Crumb’s Black Angels

喬治．克倫姆（1929-2022）今年初辭世，留下一系列寫給不同組合極具開創性的作品。若要票選過去半世紀最具影響力、最備受景仰、作品最被廣泛演奏的古典作曲家，這位普立茲獎得主（1968）一定榜上有名。克倫姆的音樂以斑斕詩意的音色見稱，令人嘆為觀止的手寫樂譜一直為人津津樂道。為擴音弦樂四重奏而作的《黑天使》對演奏者極具挑戰性，創作於1970 年，受當時緊繃的越戰氛圍影響，死亡、宿命、靈性的叩問等議題貫穿全曲。 

Cong Quartet 常駐香港及荷蘭，是 2019 年東京薩爾斯堡莫扎特室樂國際比賽冠軍，2021 年比利時克羅采國際音樂比賽室樂組亞軍。這次「薄暮樂敘」示範講座邀得 Cong Quartet 成員戚耀庭、羅莎莉、鄭恩浩和客席中提琴手 Evan Robinson 詮釋《黑天使》的數個選段，並與陳慶恩教授暢談這部當代經典背後種種鬼斧神工的細節。 

When George Crumb (1929-2022) passed away earlier this year, he left the world with a rich mix of ground-breaking compositions. The Pulitzer Prize-winning composer (1968) was among the most influential, recognised, and most frequently performed classical composers over the last 50 years, renowned for his hauntingly poetic sound world and stunningly beautiful handwritten scores. Composed in 1970 for an amplified string quartet, Black Angels is a fiendishly challenging piece in which themes of death, destiny and obsessive spirituality prevail, picking up vibrations from the then tense backdrop of the Vietnam War. 
 
Based in Hong Kong and the Netherlands, Cong Quartet was the Winner of the 2019 Salzburg Mozart International Chamber Competition in Tokyo and won the Second Prize at the 2021 Kreutzer International Competition in Belgium. In the upcoming Around Twilight Lecture Demonstration, members Francis Chik, Sally Law, and Yan-ho Cheng will appear alongside guest violist Evan Robinson in conversation with Prof. Chan Hing-yan about Crumb’s artistry and creativity behind this contemporary masterpiece. 

CRUMB  Excerpts from Black Angels

Cong Quartet
Evan Robinson, guest violist
Prof. Chan Hing-yan, host

Cong Quartet will also appear in the film ‘Jockey Club InnoArts Series – Shuffle Dimensions‘. For more info, please visit https://www.hk.artsfestival.org.

Shuffle Dimensions is solely sponsored by:

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