JUDITH LANG ZAIMONT – “A STRANGE MAGIC” – String Quartet No. 2

Performed by the Amernet String Quartet:

Misha Vitenson and Franz Felkl, violins;
Michael Klotz, viola; Jason Calloway, cello

This is the latest in a series of music videos to accompany works by American composer Judith Lang Zaimont.

The composer writes of “A Strange Magic”:

An active single 12-minute movement, “A Strange Magic” – String Quartet No. 2 – is a recent piece. It begins as it remains throughout: immediate, confrontational, rhythmic. The descriptive word “Strange” refers to ritual incantations and spells (of
faith as well as the arcane) which have no fixed length and do their job absolutely, though in non-logical ways — mysterious, yet purposeful. Constructed in 3 big building blocks from the motive of competing minor seconds flared in opposing directions, the
Quartet is only occasionally relieved by more restful, poetic moments.
Only in the last two decades has Zaimont’s music turned clearly string-forward. This 2019 recording by the Amernet String Quartet is the work’s first.
It is from the MSR Classics World Premiere Recording “A to Z — Amernet String Quartet Plays Judith Lang Zaimont”

I chose, in particular, abstract images to illustrate the music as well as some enhanced natural footage as well as artwork by the composer’s husband, Gary Zaimont.
The visual material is found at:
https://www.pexels.com/
https://www.videoblocks.com/

and is used according to their licensing agreements.

–Michael Bregman

More information can be found at:

http://www.msrcd.com/cd/MS1709