Pure Joy! Three world premier recordings from a contemporary composer with much to say, performed by a string quartet in their own recording debut whose style shows they will be going places, and stellar audio engineering once again by Tom Peeters on Cobra Records. Enthusiastically recommended all around.
Introspect: String Quartets No. 1 & 2 by Maarten ter Horst, Helikon String Quartet, Cobra Records (2021 (DSD256 PureDSD) HERE
Maarten ter Horst (b.1987) says he placed his dream of composing on hold when he was 21. "Still, I kept catching myself subconsciously creating melodies when reflecting upon things that affected me emotionally. When I turned 30, the urge to express myself through music became strong enough again: with the encouragement of people around me, I started jotting down notes again in 2017. I wanted to compose a string quartet." And, as is said in a corner of our contemporary culture, the Force was strong in him. Strong because what he brings forth in his first two string quartets is an abundance of ideas, strong emotions, and forceful communication. His music simply overflows boundaries in its energy and communicative emotions.
In the words of the Helikon Quartet, ter Horst is "a promising young composer with a strong personal message and gift for compositional storytelling."
Completed during the lockdown in 2020, ter Horst gives us two highly autobiographical string quartets. Realizing that "it would be impossible for me to fit everything into one musical work, I split the work in two: Quartet 1 for emotions that I needed to process, and Quartet 2 for things I longed for."
String Quartet No.1 is a journey from frustration to courage, and String Quartet No.2 is a story about love, memories and dreams. Both are expressed in a very modern musical language, but composed as "appealing music, with recognizable melodies that you want to listen to again. I wanted to invite musicians to play with expression and give them the freedom to ‘breathe’ the pulse together."
He succeeds brilliantly.
The concluding work on this album, Lullaby for a String Quartet (2018-2020), is like a tender love letter to be sung not spoken. Full of peace, emotional balance, quiet introspection, a beautiful conclusion to the album.
As Maarten searched for a string quartet with whom he could entrust his compositions for performance, "there was a click with the Helikon Quartet. They adopted my enthusiasm and studied my music with remarkable dedication, for which I am very grateful to them. "In fact, the members of the quartet were so enthusiastic about the soulful character of the music that they decided to dedicate their first CD album to Maarten's two quartets: "His music speaks for itself, we could only fall in love with it... We felt a great responsibility to tell his unique and personal story as genuinely and vividly as possible."
We listeners are the great beneficiaries of this synergistic partnership. The Helikon fully embrace and immerse themselves in this music. They are totally committed and their emotional commitment shines in every note, in every turn of phrase.
Formed in 2015, the Helikon Quartet consists of four women now launching their performing careers and working together towards one common goal: creating musical purity. Next to the quartet the members have positions in Kremerata Baltica and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, and are regular guests in various orchestras and ensembles.
And we are fortunate to hear this quartet at this formative stage of their performing careers. Listen to this album and you'll agree with me, this quartet is one to watch as they continue to evolve.
Latvian violinist Stella Zake studied at the Conservatory of Amsterdam with Ilya Grubert and Liviu Prunaru. She plays the 1830 Raffaele and Antonio Gagliano, on loan to her by the Dutch Musical Instrument Foundation.
Dutch violinist Marieke Kosters studied at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague with Ilona Sie Dhian Ho and Peter Brunt. She plays on a violin from ca. 1880 by Joseph Hel, on loan from the Dutch Musical Instrument Foundation.
Dutch violist Lotus de Vries studied with Tabea Zimmermann and Florian Peelman at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" Berlin and with Francien Schatborn at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. She plays on a modern viola built in 2011 by Alfons Pisters.
Dutch cellist Renate Apperloo studied with Leonid Gorokhov at the Hochschule für Musik Theater und Medien in Hannover and with Mick Stirling at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. She plays a Finnigan and Klaembt cello from Bremen (2013).
Maarten ter Horst and the Helikon Trio during the recording session Introspect. Note the Neuman KU-100 Artificial Head just below the main stereo microphone array.
Tom Peeters, founder Cobra Records, is consistently one of my favorite engineers making new recordings today. I think this may be because his goal in recorded sound so much aligns to my own preferences: use a recording space with excellent natural acoustics, position the musicians and your microphones in that space for the best sound, and keep it all as direct and simple as possible. And, record directly to DSD256 and release in that same format without interim PCM process for a Pure DSD release.
And a further big plus for me, Tom records simultaneously to 2-channel, 5-channel, and binaural. As a headphones listener, I simply love the opportunity to hear these binaural recordings that Tom releases on his Cobra Records label. When I listen to his binaural recordings, made directly to DSD256, I am as close to the live performance as I can ever expect to be.
For those who have setups to listen in multi-channel, I'm told by people whose ears I trust, that the 5-channel recordings that Tom makes are, similarly, about as good as it gets within the limits of today's technology. If you have a multi-channel set up, you should try them.
This is another great recording, Tom!
For more about binaural recordings and Tom Peeter's philosophy of audio engineering (as well as working with the artists who choose to record with him), read my interview from a year ago HERE and a further article on Cobra Records' binaural recordings HERE.
The Helikon String Quartet invite us to: "Check out our music video of this enchanting 2nd movement from Maarten ter Horst's first string quartet" from the recording session.
Photos courtesy of Cobra Records.
