# Golijov - Tenebrae for String Quartet (SQ review)



## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

I'll leave this explanation to the composer himself.

"I wrote Tenebrae as a consequence of witnessing two contrasting realities in a short period of time in September 2000. I was in Israel at the start of the new wave of violence that is still continuing today, and a week later I took my son to the new planetarium in New York, where we could see the Earth as a beautiful blue dot in space. I wanted to write a piece that could be listened to from different perspectives. That is, if one chooses to listen to it "from afar", the music would probably offer a "beautiful" surface but, from a metaphorically closer distance, one could hear that, beneath that surface, the music is full of pain. I lifted some of the haunting melismas from Couperin's Troisieme Leçon de Tenebrae, using them as sources for loops, and wrote new interludes between them, always within a pulsating, vibrating, aerial texture. The compositional challenge was to write music that would sound as an orbiting spaceship that never touches ground. After finishing the composition, I realized that Tenebrae could be heard as the slow, quiet reading of an illuminated medieval manuscript in which the appearances of the voice singing the letters of the Hebrew Alphabet (from Yod to Nun, as in Couperin) signal the beginning of new chapters, leading to the ending section, built around a single, repeated word: Jerusalem."

Osvaldo Golijov

Tenebrae was originally written for the Kronos Quartet, and both its movements are emotional with strains of melody permeating. In Tenebrae, the destruction evolves/co-exist with beautiful harmony as Goloijov asks how something as tense and volatile as the Earth can look so peaceful from above. Tenebrae is a beautiful work that I've heard used as backing music on several TV programmes (usually all related to the Earth/natural world). Fortunately we have some very fine recordings of this stunning piece.

Here's a YouTube recording by the Kontras Quartet.






Of the recordings available Plattform K+K Vienna are possibly the weakest for me. It's a rather broad and a little pedestrian recording. Try the list below for firm recommendations

*Highly Recommended

Avalon* - they definitely capture the beauty of the score with wonderful results and the recording is especially fine. For those wanting a 'brighter' more positive Tenebrae this is probably the version for you.
*Brodsky* - the Brodsky play this piece with greater pathos maintaining neither a mournful or positive outlook. This is a tense and edgy, deeply felt and affecting reading and one that pays dividends on repeated listening.
*Calidore* - the overall feel from the Calidore is one of sadness and of darkness but they maintain a nice equilibrium of tension. The pairings on their excellent Resilience album are even more attractive.

*Top Pick

Kronos*
Whilst all the other ensembles offer excellent, thought-provoking readings of Tenebrae none capture the volatility of the piece quite as well as the ensemble it was written for. The Kronos are darker, more contemplative, angry or violent and produce a recording that takes you through the emotional ringer. Whilst everyone else seems to reflect parts of the piece perfectly the Kronos seem to reflect the whole. Stunning.


----------

