Description

Contours

Kristian Blak’s compositions include concertos, music for ballets and theatre, string quartets and numerous other works for chamber groups and for solo instruments. Kristian Blak (b. 1947) is the founder and the current artistic director of Summartónar Festival of Classical and Contemporary music in the Faroe Islands. Blak is, as a composer, equally known for his suites for jazz groups. Most of these works, as well as his chamber music and orchestral works, have been recorded and released by Tutl. As a performer Blak has recorded and toured extensively with own jazz and folk groups.

Contours (2001) is Kristian Blak’s fourth string quartet. Written for the Moyzes Quartet, it was first performed in the village
of Gjógv at the Summatónar Festival 2001 in the Faroe Islands.

The musical material is based on melodic lines derived from Faroese coastal contours. Here, the form is a particular continuous series of contours: the Faroes seen from the Northwest, from Enniberg to Mykines.

Nadn (2003), for solo cello, is a newer version of Blak’s work origi- nally composed for violin and guitar (1988). The piece was inspired by music from the klezmer tradition. The three movements are based on music recorded early in the twentieth century in New York by Jew- ish immigrants from Galicia, Rumania and other parts of Eastern Europe. Nadn is the Yiddish word for “dowry.”

Several meanings may be associated with the Faroese word “landslag” (English: landscape), as used in the next two titles. One meaning of “lag”, the latter part of the term, is “melody.” The melodies in Landslag no. 2 (2001-2002) come from the “land,” in a cultural way, as the melodic material is based on three Faroese traditional songs: a dance ballad, a hymn and a “skjaldur” (rhyme).
In Landslag no. 1 (2001), as in Contours, the “lag”, the melodic material is derived from contours in the physical “land.” The outline used in this piece is the view seen from the village of Mykines westwards, from the horizon up to the edge of
the bird cliffs.

Tracklist:
1. String Quartet no. 4, Contours: I. Viðoy
2. String Quartet no. 4, Contours: II. Eysturoy
3. String Quartet no. 4, Contours: III. Mýlingur
4. String Quartet no. 4, Contours: IV. Vágar
5. String Quartet no. 4, Contours: V. Mykines
6. Nadn: I. Nign
7. Nadn: II. Doina
8. Nadn: III. Oy Tate
9. Landslag no. 2: I. Hertugen
10. Landslag no. 2: II. Bort, bort
11. Landslag no. 2: III. …Tað heila gongur av lagi
12. Landslag no. 1

Released on the following formats:
CD and digitally on all major platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.).
You can check it out by using this link: https://bfan.link/contours-2