JACK Quartet – String Creatures

Experience the Australian premiere of a new Liza Lim work, performed by one of the planet’s top quartets.

Champions of 20th and 21st-century string quartet music, JACK Quartet has been described by its home-city publication as being the ‘expert in the most ferociously difficult modern scores’ (The New Yorker), and for good reason.

Since first joining forces almost 20 years ago, JACK Quartet’s reputation for being one of the most respected experimental string quartets has continued to build. Known as contemporary music celebrities, JACK Quartet explored their untapped skills as magicians and escape artists during workshops with Liza Lim for String Creatures. Co-commissioned by Melbourne Recital Centre, the struggling echoes of being trapped felt in the first movement were directly inspired by John Richards – the Quartet’s violist – attempting to free his hands after being tied to the neck of his instrument during an early workshop.

The fascination with string and rope continued throughout the creative process for one of Australia’s most successful contemporary composers: ‘There’s something magical about string … A string retains every twist and turn that it encounters’ (Liza Lim).

Ruth Crawford Seeger’s time capsule String Quartet 1931 precedes the Australian premiere of String Creatures. Written in Germany but often described as an active dismissal of the latest in European musical trends, String Quartet 1931 cemented her among the most daring and accomplished American avant-garde composers. Similarly, Elliott Carter was determined to shatter the status quo when he wrote his inaugural String Quartet, proclaiming that he wanted to break free from his ‘professional and social responsibility to write interesting, direct, easily understood music.’ A desire that can be felt and heard throughout, even in the moments of heart and soul hidden deep within the notes.