WHAT REMAINS – Roukens, Reich, Messiaen
Our new album What Remains features music by Joey Roukens, Steve Reich and Olivier Messiaen. Click here to listen!
'For a string quartet to branch beyond mainstream repertoire requires thought and daring. The Dudok Quartet Amsterdam have both.'
The Guardian
'Selten wirkte der Klang eines Streichquartett so aus der Zeit gehoben wie auf dieser CD.'
WDR 3
The title What Remains of String Quartet No.4 (2019) by Joey Roukens can be understood in various ways. On a poetic level, the words correspond to the character of the music, which often seems to hark back to ‘something remaining’ from a previous era – ruins, ghosts, scraps or memories. This interpretation, both of the words and of the music itself, marked the beginning of the associative exploration that led to this album of the same title. A fascinatingly curated program from the Dudok, drawing on music from the 13th, 14th and 16th centuries, with 20th century works by Olivier Messiaen and Steve Reich, and into the 21st century with the work that provides the album’s title, the 4th String Quartet by Roukens, commissioned by the Dudok Quartet. Both Reich and Roukens’ were influenced by Gregorian chant, and the early organum and polyphonic music that followed. Time, travel, locomotion – journeys through time and the memories of these journeys all come together on this thrilling new album from the Dudok Quartet, Amsterdam.
'With Roukens' What Remains the quartet strikes a nerve, a beautiful piece in which the finite and infinite meet and time does not seem to be a linear given.'
NRC
10/10 'a shining example of elegantly composed programming'
Luister Magazine
'Timeless Messiaen arrangement provides the perfect conclusion.'
The Scotsman
'With this highly accomplished album, the Dudoks free themselves from a competition against time in fascinating ways.'
Nederlands Dagblad
'an intriguing and absorbing album, [...] the Dudok Quartet’s playing is vigorous, intense and at times thrilling.'
BBC Music Magazine
'The Dudok curate this kind of concept album in style'
The Strad