Jasper String Quartet – Insects & Machines (2023) [FLAC 24bit/192kHz]

Jasper String Quartet – Insects & Machines (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 56:20 minutes | 1,77 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Sono Luminus

Vivian Fung has long been a friend and admired composer of the Jasper String Quartet. The Quartet first performed one of her works in 2019, and we were immediately captivated by the visceral energy and impeccable craft of her writing. Vivian’s String Quartets Nos. 1–4 span 18 years of her career and reflect a remarkable journey of absorbing, integrating, and synthesizing a unique spectrum of influences into her compositional voice. Unwavering in all of the works is a fierce heart, instrumental fearlessness, and an amazing instinct for texture. We are incredibly grateful to have recorded these works with Vivian in the studio and for the growth we experienced in the process.

This album is a testimonial to my lifelong adoration of strings, dating back to my beginning cello studies as a middle school student. My cello teacher introduced me to a wide-ranging repertoire and opened up my sonic world with the sound of string quartets, concerti, and Baroque instruments. The string quartet format, in particular, has gripped my imagination since writing Pizzicato, which I originally wrote as a standalone work and later incorporated as the third movement of String Quartet No. 1 and continues to be one of my most performed pieces. Many thank yous to the Jasper String Quartet for their dedication to this CD project; to my husband, son, and parents for their support; and to everyone at Sono Luminus for producing this wonderful album.The string quartets on this album by composer Vivian Fung date from between 2004 and 2019. Over that period, Fung has incorporated various new influences into her music and has accordingly gained wider attention. She has worked closely with the Jasper String Quartet, whose interpretations of her music may be taken as definitive. Fung’s music has a modernist-expressionist core, but other ideas are woven into it seamlessly. She says that travel and research are essential to what she does musically. There are traces of her Chinese heritage in multiple movements of the String Quartet No. 2, but also influences from other international experiences. The album takes its title from the String Quartet No. 4: Insects and Machines, which was inspired by hearing distinctive insect sounds on a trip to Cambodia and reflecting at the same time on the Khmer Rouge genocide of the 1970s. It is an extraordinary work that grows in impact with each hearing. The Sono Luminus studio sound is another contributor to the album’s success, vividly rendering the album’s dual sound worlds of natural and machine processes. Those not yet familiar with this distinctively eclectic contemporary composer are advised to sample her music here. – James Manheim

Tracklist:

01. Jasper String Quartet – Fung: String Quartet No. 1: I. Animato (04:03)
02. Jasper String Quartet – Fung: String Quartet No. 1: II. Interludium (03:37)
03. Jasper String Quartet – Fung: String Quartet No. 1: III. Pizzicato (04:21)
04. Jasper String Quartet – Fung: String Quartet No. 1: IV. Moto Perpetuo – Presto Possible (04:28)
05. Jasper String Quartet – Fung: String Quartet No. 2: I. Introduction (01:40)
06. Jasper String Quartet – Fung: String Quartet No. 2: II. Of the Wind (03:01)
07. Jasper String Quartet – Fung: String Quartet No. 2: III. Of Birds and Insects (03:29)
08. Jasper String Quartet – Fung: String Quartet No. 2: IV. Interlude – With Calmness: Klangfarbenmelodie (01:45)
09. Jasper String Quartet – Fung: String Quartet No. 2: V. Of Tribes and Villages (03:44)
10. Jasper String Quartet – Fung: String Quartet No. 2: VI. Postlude: Of Ghosts and Memories (02:51)
11. Jasper String Quartet – Fung: String Quartet No. 3 (11:48)
12. Jasper String Quartet – Fung: String Quartet No. 4: Insects and Machines (11:27)

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