Adam Brandenburg

Distances

'Distances is a journey through a linear musical form with harmonies borrowed from the fourth movement of Bartók's String Quartet No. 5 at its core. The newly configured chords, taken out of context and placed in an altered musical fabric, sound somewhat blurred and serve to create a contrast as played by the string quartet. The traditional tonal harmonies offer a counterpoint to scales of alternating distances, different heptatonic scales (e.g. heptatonia secunda). Rather than tracing a melodic arc, these scales provide a backbone to the continuously changing musical fabric of the piece.'' (Ádám Brandenburg).

The work won an award at the 2020 Bartók World Competition and was chosen as a mandatory composition for the 2021 Bartók World Competition.