RENAUD GAGNEUX (b.1947): String Quartets Nos. 1 and 2, Opus 52 for Violin and Cello, Qamar ou le reflet d'une inconnue for String Quartet and Double Bass, 2 danse populaires for String Quartet and Double Bass, 3 Bagatelles for Cello.

Description: A composer who claims to have given up composing - at least for the time being - having lost confidence in the prevailing artistic climate in which 'anything goes' and nobody reacts all that strongly either in favor of or against any individual trend, Gagneux' influences and antecedents cover a wide range of territory. He studied composition with Stockhausen and Dutilleux; piano with Perlemuter, and was also influenced by Cage. His own music reflects little of this; some Ravel influence in color, mostly, is evident here and there, perhaps from his early studies. Hectic activity, with aleatoric elements adding to the impression of a cloud of fragments flying around randomly, will suddenly give way, disarmingly, to bell sounds or folk-like tunes, or rhythmically steady and reassuring constructions in common chords; brutal mechanistic aggression, or impenetrable clusters will be displaced by a long-limbed melody reminiscent of Shostakovich. This very eclecticism, when so well integrated, becomes a style in itself; just a very difficult one to classify. Nathanaëlle Marie, Jin-Hy Paik (violins), Françoise Renard, Ingrid Lormand (viola), Yan Garac, Christophe Beau (cello), Esther Brayer (double bass).