Quatuor Akilone

A pagan figure representing the mother goddess of the woods in the Baltic States, Meža māte is a gateway to the Baltic world and thus a window into the Northern imagination.

The Baltic people worshipped the forces of nature above all. As agricultural peoples, they worshipped trees and forests, the Sun, the Moon and the stars, and all sorts of quadrupeds. Their gods and demons inhabited the fields, lakes and rivers: they were the velè, the kaukis or dwarfs, the laume (female). Their temples were the sacred forests or alkas. Among the Latvians, this cult takes on a very marked character with the "mothers" or māte, whose existence no doubt refers to a primordial mother-goddess and who bear telling names: Lauka māte (mother of the fields), Meža māte (of the woods), Lopu māte (of the cattle), Jūras māte (of the sea), Dārza māte (of gardens), Vēja māte (of the wind).

In this concert that travels between Norway with Grieg, Latvia with Vasks, Poland with the brilliant composer Bacewicz and Finland with Rautavaara, nature is omnipresent, wild and free, with night winters, northern lights in Norway and Finland, midnight suns in summer, another apprehension of life. Traditional songs are present everywhere and will mark out this programme thanks to the arrangements of the Danish String Quartet. Enjoy the journey to these countries where ice glistens in the woods and nature has been revered and preserved.

Edvard GRIEG (1843-1907)
String quartet n.1 in G minor op.27    35'

Grażyna BACEWICZ (1909-1969)
String quartet n.4 (1951)    22'

Pēteris VASKS (1946-)
String Quartet n.2 "Summer Songs" (1984)   28'

or

Einojuhani RAUTAVAARA (1928-2016)
String Quartet n.1 "Quartettino" (1952)    12'

Nordic Folk Tunes / Chants nordiques (Arr. Danish String Quartet)