ALEPH Guitar Quartet

The ALEPH guitar quartet performs two pieces and surprises the online audience with a very special musical experience.

A special highlight of this concert is a technical component: The microphones are placed in the room in such a way that they simulate the hearing of a guest. From a technical point of view, the method is characterized by precise spatial directional imaging – especially when reproduced via headphones. During the concert of the ALEPH guitar quartet, the microphone is replaced by the very individual ear characteristics of the guest.

A discussion with the composers, led by Ludger Brümmer (Head of ZKM | Hertz Lab), will round off the digital presentation. Sebastian Schottke will explain together with Ludger Brümmer the technical implementation of the project and the underlying idea.

Program

Tierra, polvo, tumba [Earth, dust, grave] (2019) – Núria Giménez Comas

The piece is dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Spanish Civil War who were not buried or whose bodies have not been found. It is also dedicated to the ALEPH guitar quartet. The basis of the piece consists of a gesture assigned to the instrument. – »Rasgueado«-stops [a technique from the flamenco]. The Rasgueados are muted, played in different tonal shades or used as a mute gesture. These elements are present throughout the piece. The first rhythmic and sonorous part is replaced by an increasingly lyrical part – with room for the reverberation of sounds. The structure of the piece is designed as a kind of promenade through various acoustic spaces. This finally leads into a more eloquent and articulate third part, interspersed with caesuras and incisions.

»Tierra« – these are the downward movements and gestures and the deep percussive sounds. The earth evokes the dust and the dust evokes the graves of those who lie at the side of the dictator who ordered their execution.

infinite the night / senza ritorno for guitar quartet and electronics (2015) – Marko Nikodijevic

The piece infinite the night / senza ritorno for uses few fragments from Chopin's Nocturne No. 20 in C sharp minor op. posthumously. These fragments, repeated in loops, were processed with typical dub-techno effects. Guitars, instruments of noble night music, brace themselves against their own short reverberation through tremolo and digital delay loops. Piano resonances colour the guitar sound more and more, until it disappears completely into the wideness of the room. The piece is written in loving memory of Adam Falkiewicz.

ALEPH Guitar Quartet

Andrés Hernández Alba, Tillmann Reinbeck, Wolfgang Sehringer, Christian Wernicke