The next two works we will examine this summer utilize a more abstract form of expression. One is concerned with the natural physical properties of form and substance. The other explores the work of a surrealist filmmaker examining identity, the nature of evil, and the many ways we may unknowingly invite it into our lives.

Anna Þorvaldsdóttir (b.1977), Enigma (2019)

Enigma is a string quartet that uses unified extended techniques to explore what the composer describes as "the in-between." 

The music of Enigma is inspired by the notion of the "in-between," juxtaposing flow and fragmentation. Pulsating stasis - the "whole," an expanding and contracting fundament - is contrasted with fragmented materials - shadows of things that live as part of the whole. Harmonies emerge and evaporate or break into pieces in various ways, leaving traces of materials that project through different kinds of textures and nuances and gradually take on their own shape. Some return to the core, some remain apart. Throughout the piece, the perspective continuously moves between the two, the fundament and the fragmented shadows, but the focus is always their relationship - the "in-between." —Anna Thorvaldsdottir, from Program Notes to Enigma

Thorvaldsdottir's primary instrument is the cello. With Enigma, she uses her knowledge of the many sonic possibilities available to a vibrating string to create a multi-dimensional experience for the listener. At the most basic level, the main contrast she plays with in the piece is switching between pitch and noise and layering them on top of each other. It is an approach to composition where a percussionist would feel right at home with its juxtaposition of pitched (bells, timpani) and non-pitched (shakers, cymbals) orchestrations. One of the unique charms of writing for string quartet is the uniformity of tone color from the violin's highs to the cello's lows. As with a vocal chorus, all of the instruments in the ensemble are capable of the same sound palette. This can present a challenge when using multiple extended techniques for the performers because the piece plays on this uniformity of tone color, so each player needs to perform these techniques the same way for the desired musical effect to occur. Chamber musicians are used to thinking like this, but the detail and precision required to perform what the composer asks for in Enigma is remarkable. As a former performer, I love this piece because I appreciate the unique challenges in pulling something like this off. But what does that matter to the listener? What is the result of all of this fine technical craftsmanship?

In her performance notes quoted above, Thorvaldsdottir mentions flow and fragmentation. Flow is represented by sustained pitches and harmonies generated traditionally by a bowed string and long phrases of repeated pluckings, scratchings, and other ways of generating sound from a string. Fragmentation is represented by short, sharp pluckings, pitched melodic lines of changing lengths, and harmonic progressions that extend and point in different directions. The interplay between these elements creates a sense of shifting realities - a kind of travel between mirror universes. It has the feel of a ghost story with the presence of an unseen reality gradually revealed and then hidden away from an observer. Thorvaldsdottir's choice of harmonic material also lends the work a feeling of melancholy that adds to the ghostly atmosphere. The overall effect is both cosmic and personal. 

These shifting perspectives in a two-dimensional object are something that painters frequently play around with. When listening to Enigma, I am reminded of one of my favorite works by the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, The Dance of Life (1899-1900). Munch uses his two-dimensional canvas to position subjects from the background to the foreground at different temporal stages of life, from youth to death. 

Another example of this type of interplay exists in the realm of astronomy. In the image featured at the top of this post, the James Webb Space Telescope recently imaged the cluster of galaxies known as Stephan's Quintet. While the two-dimensional image shows galaxies merging and interacting, one of the galaxies is not an actual group member and is much further away in space and time. 

I think I'll leave a discussion of string theory for another day.

Spektral Quartet recently performed Enigma with an immersive 360-degree video presentation inside Chicago's Adler Planetarium. I wish I had been there to experience that performance. I'll have to settle for grabbing my headphones and flipping through the marvels revealed this week by the JWST. The wonderful thing about Enigma is that it's all right there, even without the visuals, in Thorvaldsdottir's Quartet.