Spiral X

Chinary Ung

2007

String quartet (violin (2), viola, cello)

"Spiral X" begins with an evocation of the spirits: a percussive unison attack of mostly open strings followed by slowly modulating bowing, subtly coloring this atmospheric event before the 'cellist adds her voice. The high strings follow with harmonic arpeggiation – an explicit motive towards the celestial, while the voice is literally housed in the mortal. The musical materials in "Spiral X" vary from the intensely melodic (often doubled at the octave) to the highly rhythmic (with voices chanting) to the heterophonic. The contrast of textures, of similarity and difference, is, perhaps, the area of deepest engagement with the history of the string quartet medium. However Ung's intention is not to borrow those things, even if the performers' musculature developed from playing traditional repertoire helps to achieve his goals. The mixture of styles and languages are like family members singing different songs simultaneously.

Towards the end of the work, the quartet becomes unified in its purpose, with accentuated shouts while playing fast, rhythmic passagework. This is a shamanistic attempt to dispel the suffering perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge. The pain is not in the performers, it is in us, and their shouts – amplified along with their instruments – are intended to reach all of those who have suffered.

"Spiral X 'in memoriam,' " for amplified string quartet was composed in the summer of 2007 for the Del Sol String Quartet with a commission from the Koussevitzky Foundation in the Library of Congress.