Helena Skljarov: Silence for String Quartet

The piece Silence, for string quartet, was created in 2019 for a competition that brought Helena Skljarov an award – participation in the Aix-en-Provence Festival as a composer-in-residence, during which she perfected this quartet with the residency mentor, composer Kaija Saariaho. According to the author, the idea of ​​the quartet was to connect specific motifs and extended techniques with the possibilities of the human voice, with the first part of the quartet being a “presentation” of these techniques, the second being their imitation with the voice while playing, and in the last part, the musicians produce sounds exclusively with their voices, completely abandoning their instruments. The free style of the piece gives musicians the freedom to choose how to interpret certain parts of the composition and how to imitate their own instrument with their voices. With quotes from John Cage and Daniil Harms, the question is raised: “If music can be silence, why can’t it be noise and random shouting?” The composition was selected for the 2021 World New Music Days of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) in Shanghai and Nanning.

HDS, Cantus, 2025.

Broj izdanja | Edition Number

Can. 391-3640

ISMN 979-0-801363-64-0