FOCUS | Chordos String Quartet

The second concert in the series, FOCUS, invites us to return to ourselves. Symbolically held on November 2nd in the magnificent Treasury Hall of the Church Heritage Museum, this program offers a time for reflection, a philosophical meditation, and a search for inner connection—a much-needed respite in a world that is constantly shifting, rushing, and full of complexities.

This avant-garde 20th-century music, marked by calmness and a unique sense of silence, will appeal both to music connoisseurs and to anyone seeking to explore and discover new sonic landscapes.

PROGRAM

Luigi Nono. Fragmente-Stille, an Diotima (1980)

John Cage. String quartet In Four Parts (1950)

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After several years of creative crisis, the Italian composer Luigi Nono (1924–1990) wrote a series of works that were markedly different from what he had produced in the previous three decades. Among these was the string quartet Fragmente-Stille, an Diotima, premiered in 1980 by the renowned LaSalle Quartet. Few compositions of that time received as much commentary and praise as this one. Thirty years later, music historian David Metzer recognized it as one of the key works of the 1970s that shaped a new phase in modernist music.

Diotima, a teacher of Socrates, is linked to the concept of time. The music is inspired by verses from the famous German Romantic poet Friedrich Hölderlin, which, like unspoken words or meditations, remain as mere references in the score. Through his exploration of ancient music and memories from a distant past as sources of pain and hope, Nono raises fundamental questions: “Where am I, and who am I?”

American composer John Cage (1912–1992) composed his String Quartet In Four Parts in 1950, a work that marks one of the last pieces before the principles of indeterminacy and chance, which became central to his later work, took full hold. In this quartet, Cage employed a new technique he called “gamut,” where each player has a fixed, unchanging, and individualized “gamut,” from which melodies and harmonies emerge. The result is a piece without any sense of progression or resolution. After completing the first movement, Cage was so enamored with the method that he wrote, “This work feels like opening another door, and the possibilities within it are endless.”

The piece is dedicated to fellow composer Lou Harrison. Cage aimed to create a work that would celebrate silence without actually using silence itself. The quartet’s four movements are associated with the Indian perception of the seasons, where each season corresponds to a specific force—creation, preservation, destruction, or calmness. Hence, the programmatic titles emerged:

1. Quietly Flowing Along – Summer
2. Slowly Rocking – Autumn
3. Nearly Stationary – Winter
4. Quodlibet – Spring

As critics have noted, this piece, like many of John Cage’s works, “clears and calms the mind, opening it to divine influence.”

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Organized by: VšĮ “Muzikos ruduo”
Funded by: Lithuanian Council for Culture and Vilnius City
Partner: Church Heritage Museum
Visual identity: Kristina Pavlovaitė
Lighting design: Justas Bø