A Sense Of Loss

An austere collection called String Quartets by the Armenian composer Tigran Mansurian and perfomed by the Rosamunde Quartet. The disk contains Mansurian's String Quartet no 1 and String Quartet No 2 plus a short piece called Testament. Both of the string quartets are dedicated to musician friends who died young and the entire disk is a tribute to his recently deceased wife, so the downbeat mood is not a surprise ( Testament is dedicated to ECM label boss Manfred Eicher who is still very much with us ). The works are not without elegiac and mystical passages though and it isn't all bleakness and grief. A melody by legendary Armenian art music figure Komitas is used in one of the quartets and there is also the influence of sacred music from the region in the middle ages. It is hard to escape the feeling of loss however which can apply as much to the history of the Armenian people, not exactly the most fortunate of groups, as to the personal mourning of Mansurian. The Rosamunde Quartet, which includes cellist Anja Lechner who is becoming something of an ECM regular,have an innate feel for this music.