Ragazze Quartet – ‘Voces Intimae’
Ragazze Quartet
Rosa Arnold – violin
Jeanita Vriens-van Tongeren – violin
Annemijn Bergkotte – viola
Nathalie Flintrop – cello
In Voces Intimae, the Ragazze Quartet weaves together three musical voices from the north: the timeless power of Scandinavian folk music, the abstract, almost physical poetry of the recently deceased Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho and the introspective lyricism of Jean Sibelius. Folk melodies, passed down through memory and tradition, form the roots of the programme.
Programme includes:
- Kaija Saariaho – Terra Memoria for String Quartet (2007)
- Jean Sibelius – String Quartet in D minor, Op. 56, Voces Intimae (1908)
- Scandinavian folk music
Jean Sibelius’ string quartet Voces Intimae is an intimate conversation between voices from the past and present. The title refers both to the intimacy of the string quartet and to Sibelius’ inner voice. It is a work filled with melancholy, reflection and inner calm, with numerous references to the folk music tradition.
While Sibelius’ Voces Intimae evokes an intimate conversation between voices from the past and present, Saariaho’s string quartet Terra Memoria explores how memory lives on in sound: ever-changing, tangible and sometimes painfully clear. She describes how we continue to hear the voices of those who are no longer with us: their lives are complete, yet they live on in our memories, while our feelings about them continue to change.
Scandinavia’s rich folk music tradition is reflected in the vast number of beautiful, often melancholic pieces that have been passed down through oral tradition and collective memory. They tell stories of nature, the sea and human emotions. The Ragazze Quartet performs a selection of arrangements from ‘the Ireland of the North’.
