Language of the Heart, Santiago Quartet with Julian Rowlands
Posted on 28th December 2017 at 16:30
The MWC blog is written and edited throughout the year by our in-house journalist, Johanna McWeeney. Outside of writing, Johanna’s main focus is as second violinist with the Santiago Quartet. The Quartet is set to release its second album, Language of the Heart on March 9th, 2018. We find out more…
About the album
Language of the Heart is slightly unusual as a string quartet album. Mostly recorded in collaboration with bandoneón player and Tango music specialist, Julian Rowlands, the music is a rich mix of Piazzolla’s Nuevo Tango and an English string quartet by Will Todd. In fact, the whole project started when we decided to record the Todd, and it went on from there, developing into a full-blown album.
The making of a CD
Unless you have a big name behind you, it’s phenomenally expensive to make a CD. Studio costs, production, mastering, arrangements of music, session fees for guest artists, not to mention PR for the finished product. We decided to crowdfund our album. This was the best way we could see to keep equanimity within the Quartet, and to raise the money to make the best record. We were lucky enough to raise over £11,000 through the generosity of our donors. We’ve also been fortunate in having some amazing people involved in the project. Will Todd joined us in the studio at Surrey University to produce his Birthday Quartet, and we recorded all of the Piazzolla with Gerry Diver who produces for artists including Lisa Knapp. Julian Rowlands’ knowledge of Tango music, and Piazzolla in particular, made for an exciting musical journey.
What is on the CD?
The centrepiece of the album is Piazzolla’s Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas /Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, re-imagined for string quartet and bandoneón by César Olguin. Some other short works – Milonga del Angel
Anxiety and Oblivion – also by Piazzolla, complement the work. Will Todd’s emotive Birthday Quartet sits alongside these passionate Argentine pieces, its three movements –Heart-beat, Love Song and In God my Hope – offering a palette of hope, bittersweet pain and redemption. In a sense, two musical worlds meet: The hotly emotional and virtuosic Nuevo Tango music of Astor Piazzolla, raw, insistent, demanding and fun, and the lyrical, unsettling Birthday Quartet with its rich choral voicing and unrelenting jazz rhythms.
And yet, each piece has come to be of personal importance; each movement expresses an emotion, whether or not that feeling is expressed in its title.
Why did you choose the title Language of the Heart?
As a Quartet we have made a big effort to support and raise awareness of mental health issues. Our cellist, Jonny, lives with bi-polar 1, and his experience has partly formed how the group works. We decided to use this project to raise money for Mind, the mental health charity, and have so far collected over £3,000 for mental health charities. The music on the album is all about emotion, struggle and hope. Even the names of the tracks – Anxiety, Oblivion, Heartbeat – tell a story. During a conversation about the album project, the meaning of music and the importance of music in mental wellbeing, Jonny said: “Music is the language of the heart.” From that point, well before we’d even started recording, the name of the album has been Language of the Heart.
Where can I buy the album?
Tagged as: STRING QUARTET, TANGO
Share this post:
