String Quartet Nr. 2 “Ghost” (2007)

Composed: September/October 2007
Duration: approx. 17:45 mins.
Premiere: January 18, 2014; members of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra String Quartet, Turku (Finland); performers at the premiere: Kerim Gribajcevic (violin), Katariina Taipale (violin), Jouni Rissanen (viola), Pekka Laamanen (cello)
Availability:
This work (score and parts) is available for complimentary download. Please visit our web store.

 

“[…] a pleasing, skillfully constructed and very musical work.”
(Turun Sanomat; January 21, 2014)

Program Notes:

Originally untitled and written without the composer having any particular narrative structure in mind, Jansa’s String Quartet Nr. 2 received its name, “Ghost”, after a reading of the work during which a friend of the composer’s envisioned a lost spirit wandering alone through an abandoned castle searching fervently for a long-long companion (1st movement); a nightly interlude (2nd movement); and an imaginary, passionate dance with said companion (3rd movement). Given the overall (neo-)romantic musical language of the work, this programmatic structure, in close adhesion to early 19th century artistic ideals, fit perfectly and was eventually adopted for the quartet and its individual movements.