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.

Rubicon Classics

'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

What Remains trailer I: Viderunt Omnes

Counterpoint zero, a musical big bang, or simply the oldest notated form of contrapuntal writing: we think that the millennium that has passed since Perotinus wrote ‘Viderunt Omnes’ puts it at the furthest possible distance from our contemporary musical practice. Featured on our album What Remains!

What Remains trailer II: Reich

Different Trains is part of our album What Remains: Roukens, Reich & Messiaen, which will be released on June 30th via Rubicon Classics

What Remains trailer III: Roukens

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 our album of the same title.

What Remains trailer IV: Messiaen

Olivier Messiaen’s Oraison from the suite Fête des belles eaux embraces themes of immortality and eternity. It was originally written in 1937 for the haunting, oscillating sounds of the Ondes Martenot. The composer reworked it for cello and piano as the central movement of his Quartet for the End of Time during his internment as a prisoner of war in WWII. We chose to rearrange this piece as the concluding music for our album What Remains.

What Remains trailer V: Kyrie

The extremities in De Machauts temperament puts the expectations of any contemporary performer to the test. Should we tune all the fifths correctly? Or do we prefer a ‘just’ intonation regarding thirds? This is one of the works featured on our upcoming album ‘What Remains: Roukens, Reich and Messiaen’

WHAT REMAINS – Roukens, Reich, Messiaen