Markus Reuter: String Quartet No.1 'Heartland' Matangi Quartet

• Markus Reuter (b. 1972):
• 1 Boon 05:10
• 2 X Has Taken a Shine to You 07:58
• 3 Netcong 63 04:32
• 4 Dwell on a Star 05:48
• 5 The Tragic Universe 04:27
• 6 Zauberberg 10:32
• 7 Heartland Bleeds 05:39
• 8 The Magic Universe 09:25
• Total Runtime 53:31

Info for Markus Reuter: String Quartet No.1 'Heartland'

After years of preparation and planning, Solaire Records is proud and excited to present 'Heartland', Markus Reuter's first string quartet. The album sees Markus further explore his algorithmically-supported composing technique to create a sonic language that will surprise even long-standing supporters.

After spending months listening to most of music history's major string quartets, Markus ultimately decided to break with tradition and approach things from an entirely unique angle. Working closely with Oval's Markus Popp, the tracks were built using a pool of self-referential musical fractals. By combining them into deeply layered structures, every single bar of music is related to what precedes and follows it, even though there is not a single mechanical repetition in these pieces.

Performed by the prestigious Matangi Quartet and recorded by award-winning producer Dirk Fischer, Heartland is a journey to the borders of melody and harmony: Driving, sensual, serene and moving.

My idea is to write my first “String Quartet”, meaning a cycle of string quartet pieces. I see the music as an “album” in the traditional sense, not just a compilation of pieces. The goal is not to get them premiered/performed first, but to record them in a beautiful way with classical music producer and label owner Dirk Fischer of Solaire Records, Berlin. The music will get presented as a Deluxe Edition CD with beautiful artwork and a thick booklet with extensive liner notes written by Dirk's brother, music journalist Tobias Fischer. The official album release is scheduled for March/April 2019.

In addition we are looking at getting the scores published so that string quartets world-wide will have access to these pieces. Individual sections will also work as standalone compositions, which may increase the chances of this music to get played in public at some point.

Dirk suggested the Dutch “Matangi Quartet” as the string quartet to actually perform and record these pieces. He played them some of my other music and they liked it and have agreed on a recording date in mid-October.

I do feel very inspired to do this work, and in terms of my development as a composer I see this as an important step. However, I'm actually feeling slighty intimidated by the prospect of writing this music. Recently I've been rather disappointed with the music that is being made by my peers, and I would like to do something more uncompromising, but I have no clear answer yet what that means in practice. I'm in research mode at the moment, working with a rather new kind of musical raw material.

Anyway, thank you very much for considering to support this project. I'm excited and curious... (Markus Reuter)

Matangi Quartet:
Maria-Paula Majoor, violin I
Daniel Torrico Menacho, violin II
Karsten Kleijer, viola
Arno van der Vuurst, violoncello

The Matangi Quartet
was founded in 1999 by four young musicians then studying at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague and the Conservatory of Rotterdam. In 2003 Matangi completed the two-year, full-time course at the Netherlands String Quartet Academy under the direction of Stefan Metz (cellist, Orlando Quartet). At the Academy, the Matangi Quartet had the opportunity to take lessons from international renowned musicians, including the members of the Amadeus Quartet. The quartet also received intensive mentoring from Henk Guittart (violist, Schönberg Quartet) for several years.

The Matangi Quartet has since developed into a regular performer in the Dutch chamber music scene and abroad. With their impassioned playing and smart presentation, Maria-Paula, Daniel, Karsten and Arno epitomize a new generation of classical musicians. They are often characterized by words such as communicative, provocative and refreshingly versatile. The Matangi Quartet has shared the stage with various top-class classical musicians such as Miranda van Kralingen, Tania Kross, Ivo Janssen, Paolo Giacometti and Severin von Eckardstein. The quartet has also been invited to perform in various festivals, including the Delft Chamber Music Festival, the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Carthage Festival in Tunisia, the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, the International Conservatoire Festival in St Petersburg and the North Sea Jazz festival in the Netherlands.

In 2002 Matangi was awarded the prestigious Kersjes van de Groenekan Award, an annual prize awarded to exceptional chamber music talent in the Netherlands. In 2008 the quartet won third prize at the International Joseph Joachim Chamber Music Competition in Weimar. The Matangi Quartet released several CDs issued by Challenge Records International which all received great critical acclaim. The latest releases were the CDs ‘Mendelssohn’ (2009), ‘Candybox’ (2010) and 'Haydn's Nature' (2013). Together with viola da gamba player Ralph Rousseau the quartet won the Edison Audience Award 2009, for their CD ‘Chansons d’amour’ (Challenge Records 2008). The CD ‘Testimoni’ with Martin Fondse (composition and vibrandoneon) and Eric Vloeimans (trumpet) was awarded the Edison Jazz prize 2012.

Matangi regularly participates in innovative crossover projects and has performed in collaboration with artists such as cabaretiers Herman van Veen and Youp van ’t Hek, bandoneon player Carel Kraayenhof, jazz trumpeter Eric Vloeimans, jazz pianist Michiel Braam, DJ Kypski, jazz vocalists Mathilde Santing and Renske Taminiau, singer songwriters Lory Liebermann and Tom McRae. These pioneering excursions beyond the borders of classical music have resulted in Matangi winning an enthusiastic new public for the string quartet. No less important, this has provided a source of inspiration for infusing performances of the rich classical repertoire built up over the past 250 years – from Haydn to Adès – with new élan. For essentially, the Matangi are focused on just one thing: letting the audience palpably experience the energy, passion and excitement that is inherent in all good music.

All four musicians perform on instruments of Dutch workmanship. The cello and first violin have been provided on loan by the Dutch National Musical Instrument Foundation.

This album contains no booklet.