<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
What is music? Sometimes I think that music is nothing other than<\/p>\n
a memory we have of it, a memory of it we cherish, conjured up during our<\/p>\n
encounters with music itself \u2013 either through listening to it anew (as in taking<\/p>\n
a trip down memory lane) or chancing upon it for the first time (at times like being<\/p>\n
in for a bumpy ride). As with some composers, it is this latter<\/p>\n
experience that interests me the most. On such occasions, a listener<\/p>\n
cautiously invites a new piece of music to a reception, as it were,<\/p>\n
where the cherished memories of various other musics commingle and then<\/p>\n
merge perhaps with a new arrival to form, one hopefully imagines, a lasting conviviality.<\/p>\n
Are the sonic phenomena of what we call \u201cmusic\u201d (tones, timbres,<\/p>\n
rhythms, etc.) real in a similar way, say, to the physical objects<\/p>\n
in front of us that are real? Or, to return to memory, are those very events<\/p>\n
of sound and of inflected flow nothing other than clever blends of bygone objects,<\/p>\n
or objects lost [objets perdus] in time, with newly perceived objects [objets per\u00e7us]?<\/p>\n
Such were the thoughts that accompanied me while I composed Objets per\u00e7us.<\/p>\n
per\u00e7us.<\/p>\n
Arrayed along five movements, the string quartet provides listeners with thirteen<\/p>\n
object-observation posts:<\/p>\n
I. With sudden fervor; elusive, like hasty shadows (excursus 1); hurried.<\/p>\n
II. \u201cYou need distant places that I don\u2019t know\u201d; fleeting (excursus 2); distant ringing.<\/p>\n
III. With verve, suddenly; elusive (excursus 3); headlong.<\/p>\n
IV. In quaint, faraway fanfares; fleeting (excursus 4); \u201cIn the distance I sensed the rippling<\/p>\n
sea.\u201d<\/p>\n
V. Moving and removable objects.<\/p>\n
Graciously commissioned by the Molinari Quartet, this work<\/p>\n
was given its premiere performance by them on February 16, 2024<\/p>\n
John Rea<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Listen to John Rea speak about his string quartets in the podcast \u00abLe studio du Quatuor Molinari\u00bb by following this link ce lien<\/a><\/p>\nThe score and parts are available through the Canadian Music Centre, Quebec region, Montreal office :<\/h3>\n
https:\/\/cmcquebec.ca\/<\/a><\/h3>\n