String Quartet no.2

The work draws its inspiration from a traditional Korean painting, San-Su-Hwa (San – Korean for „mountain”, Su – water) representing the peninsula’s natural landscapes, which is mostly covered by mountains. The composer makes use of a dense musical treatment that represents a single dense brushstroke of black paint. This texture develops throughout the work, eventually thinning down in order to depict a scene of rock and waterfall. The most important musical element is colorfulness, which is achieved by natural brushstrokes, always unique, just like works of nature. Copious use of new techniques for obtaining sound from a homogenous ensemble of string instruments allows the artist to enrich the sonorous palette, which is supposed to highlight the effect of the black ink’s dilution, as in its monochromatic form, the ink contains an endless amount of shades. - Dariusz Przybylski