Nature enrésonnances

Three works by three French composers of Franco-Spanish origin, a rising star in Chinese composition with a renowned international career, and a tribute to a great Finnish composer who left us a masterpiece in 2023. Composer Xu Yi's new string quartet, composed for the Adastra Quartet in 2024, entitled Vers le Vide parfait (state commission), will be performed alongside the Murs et Racines quartet composed by Clara Olivares (co-commissioned by the Adastra Quartet and the Musica 2021 Festival) and Kaija Saariaho's second quartet, Terra Memoria.

A meeting of different and contrasting generations, origins and aesthetics, who come together to observe and contemplate nature, mankind and his environment, and their close links, interactions and questioning. Inspired by the thinking of the Taoist masters, composer Xu Yi has composed her second string quartet, dedicated to the Adastra Quartet, based on the Classic of Perfect Emptiness by Lie Zi, the third great Taoist thinker after Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi. Written in the 5th century BC, the work admirably illustrates the Chinese philosophy of the unfolding of human and cosmic life, the emptiness inherent in all things, impermanence, the immortality of the spirit and the journey of the soul. Composer Clara Olivares plays with materials, textures, colours and sensations, resulting in a sound material and roles interpreted by each instrument that are reflected in her work Mur et racines.