MUSICON - The Frankland Quartet | Megh Malhar

Egidija Medekšaitė: Megh Malhar (2016)
Frankland Quartet
Sophie Appleton (violin)
Sarah Roberts (violin)
James Slater (viola)
Daniel Hammersley (cello)
Performed as part of an online concert for MUSICON on 1 April 2021.
Filming and editing: Simone Tarsitani
Megh Malhar is an Indian classical raga, where the word Megh in Sanskrit means 'cloud'. The aim of this raga is to produce the effect of approaching thunderstorm and rain. Also, Megh Malhar has been found to have the power of influencing clouds in time of drought. My intention was to use this raga in such a way, to resemble the illusion of sparkling dew, in which each raindrop reflects the microscopic world of the rain. Each string player performs various trills in extremely slow tempo in order to maintain this fragile sense of sound. For me, this piece is about the weaving with raindrops or dew, which are woven into one fragile and transparent pattern. (EM)
Dr Egidija Medekšaitė (b. 1979) received a PhD in composition from Durham University, supervised by Prof. Richard Rinjvos and Dr Sam Hayden, in 2016. She previously studied composition at the universities of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (Prof. Rytis Mažulis), and Stuttgart Academy of Music, where her teachers included Marco Stroppa and Caspar Johannes Walter. Medekšaitė composes mostly chamber music, often combining acoustic and electronic sound. One of the most important underlying principles in her work is strict organization of all parameters of music, based on some predefined patterns (progressions of pitches or durations, different numerological prodecures, etc). However, her music sounds more as a meditative flow than mathematically built structures.
Formed in 2017, the Frankland Quartet’s musical identity is embedded in the North East of England. Long-time colleagues in Royal Northern Sinfonia, the region’s professional chamber orchestra, all four of its members base their careers in the North East, and a deep commitment to the cultural life of the area lies at the heart of the Quartet’s work, inspired by its landscape, its history and its community.
The Frankland Quartet’s music-making is dedicated to an equal marriage of past and present, and a desire to look beyond the standard repertoire, championing composers from outside the traditional canon, including female composers and composers of colour. They are also committed to the voices of the North East, and work regularly with the region’s leading composers.
Their first concerts focused on Beethoven and Haydn, including performances on BBC Radio 3 as part of the Free Thinking Festival 2018. Recent projects have included Howard Skempton’s Tendrils at The Cluny, Newcastle as part of the CoMA Festival of New Music for All 2020, Egidija Medekšaitė Megh Malhar and Anna Meredith Songs for the M8 at The Globe, Newcastle, and Tippett String Quartet no.2 for Sage Gateshead’s lockdown broadcasts.
In 2019 The Frankland Quartet became Quartet-in-Residence at Durham University, leading workshops and coaching for the university’s student ensembles, performing student compositions, and giving recitals for the university’s Musicon concert series, most recently of Ravel, Tippett and Medekšaite in April 2021.
www.durham.ac....