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Just Released: Two New Recordings Featuring the Music of Pierre Jalbert

Sep. 26, 2022

This month, we celebrate the release of two new recordings featuring music by Pierre Jalbert. On September 2, the Apollo Chamber Players released "Moonstrike" featuring Jalbert's L'Esprit du Nord. Pierre Jalbert describes the work:

"L’esprit du Nord, for string quartet, was inspired by and is infused with French-Canadian folk song.  Each of the three movements uses a folk song as its basis.  The first movement, Chanson de Lisette, is a playful theme and variations in which the folk song theme is gradually transformed into a contemporary musical language.  The second movement, Cantique (Canticle), contains two religious folk tunes: a ‘Passion’ song and a tune entitled Les Pèlerins.  An optional 1940s field recording may be used, combined with the live string quartet at the opening and end of the movement.  The third movement, Fiddle Dance, was inspired by the French-Canadian fiddling tradition.  Here again, an optional 1940s field recording (a short excerpt with harmonica and spoons) may be used with the live string quartet at the beginning of the movement."


L’esprit du Nord was written for the Apollo Chamber Players as part of their 20x2020 project.

On September 23 a recording of Air In Motion, featuring the Escher Quartet and Carol Wincenc, was released by Orchid Classics. This disc features Pierre Jalbert's music exclusively and includes in addition to Air in Motion, the String Quartet No. 4 and String Quartet No. 6 ("Canticle").

Pierre Jalbert describes Air in Motion:

"Air in Motion, for flute and string quartet, is in four contrasting movements. The first movement is a short, fast, rhythmic prelude where the strings and flute echo each other’s changing rhythmic pulse (like mini metric modulations that turn on a dime). The second movement is a canon on 50 notes (in honor of Carol’s 50th anniversary season). The canon begins as a repeating ascending pattern which gradually changes over time. The same canon appears later in slow motion and in different guises throughout the piece. The third movement is an air, almost chant-like, with slowly evolving resonances and frozen time. The fourth movement is pulse-oriented, with rhythmic and imitative motives passed between strings and flute, with slower interruptive events that always lead back to the rhythmic energy of the opening."

To purchase "Moonstrike" featuring L'Esprit du Nord click on the image below.

To purchase "Air in Motion", click on the image below.


To learn more about Pierre Jalbert visit schott-music.com.

Pierre Jalbert
L'Esprit du Nord 
for string quartert 
with optional field recordings

Air in Motion (2019)
for flute and string quartet
16'

String Quartet No. 4 (2008)
20'

String Quartet No. 6 ("Canticle") (2016)
22'

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