Ryan Truesdell ‘Synthesis: The String Quartet Sessions’ Review: Jazz Composers, Classical Form by Martin Johnson
Ryan Truesdell oversees and contributes his own music to this collection of pieces by 15 composers best known for their work in jazz, artfully blending the genre with chamber music.
“Synthesis: The String Quartet Sessions is an epic new project by Grammy Award-winning producer Ryan Truesdell, which pairs 15 large ensemble jazz composers with a historic instrumentation through newly commissioned works for string quartet.
The synthesis of the composers' uniquely personal voices, the instrumentalists’ mastery of a wide variety of musical styles, and this prestigious instrumental art form produces a new genre of music found within the intersection of jazz, classical, world, and contemporary music. This new music draws fresh, revolutionary sounds from the quartet, transforming your perceptions of the capabilities and sonorities of traditional string quartets.”
ArtistShare website
“The string quartet is a polysemantic entity encompassing both an instrumentation, genre, and musical form, and since the time of Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), has become immortalized as one of the true tests of a musician's mastery of the compositional art.
Without the cover of a large orchestra to mask any imperfections, a string quartet requires that the composer synthesize the core elements in music (melody, harmony, and rhythm) with just four equal voices - two violins, viola, and cello. This lack of sonic camouflage is just one of the reasons the string quartet has served as a compositional rite of passage for almost 250 years and continues to be an ideal vehicle for developing the breadth of a composer's skill.”
Ryan Truesdell
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to CerraJazz Substack to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.