Low-key (2022) 30′
Violin, violin, viola, cello
With photography
Premier: Quatuor Bozzini
12 november 2022
Commissioned by: November Music
Low-key is the first string quartet by Dutch composer/ photographer Merijn Bisschops, written for Quatuor Bozzini. Within a prolonged development of light and darkness, Bisschops includes many refined details in his music. Subdued noisy consonances feather out into nimble microtonal ornaments. Colourful and tranquil vibrations swell into a roar of low drones. In Low-key Bisschops combines influences of spectral, minimal and renaissance music as well as krautrock and drone metal, with an always present melancholic undertone.
The music is accompanied by photo projections also made by Bisschops. Nightly trips through natural, rural and urban areas lead to low-key photography featuring artificial light sources. Minimalist landscapes reveal the aesthetics of light pollution. Secluded industrial complexes appear outer-worldly in the night fog. Theatrical tableaus of the city resemble present-day clair-obscure paintings with a twist.