The Death of the Star-Knower, petrified echoes of an epitaph in a kicked crystal of time I & II (2008-2009)
SCORE
- for string quartet
- WP by Arditti Quartet
Djordjević’s string quartet The Death of the Star-Knower – petrified echoes of an epitaph in a kicked crystal of time I&II (2008/09), a diptych commissioned by the Arditti Quartet, displays this quality of flowing motion on every level and in every dimension: timbre, pitch, rhythm. Scarcely a note remains rooted to a particular place: either the pitches are destabilised by brief glissandos or wide vibrato, or the note loses substance as airy noise-like flutterings corrode its sonority like acid. Though expressly averse to smorgasbords of unorthodox performance techniques, Djordjević employs such techniques en masse in her music. Usually they crop up as transitional stages within larger periods: for example, she allows the bows of the string instruments to wander to and fro between fingerboard and bridge on a single note, or changes the bow pressure in an undulating motion, thereby releasing a kaleidoscope of colours and timbres on the same note. The only constant is her reliably steady flow of energy, like the electric current that keeps a machine running. In one instruction, for instance, she tells the performer to play the entire piece with great tension and nervousness.
Here, too, new episodes emerge time and again in accordance with the ‘crash and reboot’ system. Usually these episodes involve only one or two short motifs, from which Djordjević extracts veritable universes, so that the striking one-note fantasy on E at the end of the piece is well-nigh bursting with vitality. Exactly how she arrives at this point of maximum focus, despite her highly contrasting and seemingly disparate initial material, is difficult to explain. But precisely this is her goal: to put her listeners in contact with the subjectivity and mobility of their perception. The secret lies in the subtlety of her constant processes of modification. For example, sharp changes of rhythm are drawn out over lengthy periods of time. It thus happens, after a long series of minimal rhythmic shifts, that we suddenly find ourselves in a completely different time frame. In this way Djordjević accomplishes her mission: to make time, in all its elasticity, a product of feeling.
It is at this point, incidentally, that we search for a direct connection between Djordjević’s often enigmatic titles and her music – usually in vain. As a rule, her titles are spontaneous brainchildren less likely to convey the essence of a piece than the moment in which its title was conceived. Even so, they always contain a poetic impetus that compels us to think in a particular direction.
Barbara Eckle