Jeu de Tarot Ensemble Signal, Arditti Quartet & Brad Lubman (feat. Irvine Arditti)

• David Felder (b. 1953): Jeu de Tarot:
• 1 Jeu de Tarot: I. The Juggler 02:00
• 2 Jeu de Tarot: II. The Fool 03:41
• 3 Jeu de Tarot: III. The High Priestess 03:48
• 4 Jeu de Tarot: IV. The Hermit 03:29
• 5 Jeu de Tarot: V. The Empress, Whorld 05:33
• 6 Jeu de Tarot: VI. The Hierophant 05:05
• 7 Jeu de Tarot: VII. Moonlight 03:50
• Netivot:
• 8 Netivot: I. Devekut 04:07
• 9 Netivot: II. Hitbodedut 10:29
• 10 Netivot: III. Pillars of Clouds and Fire 06:02
• Another Face:
• 11 Another Face 10:15
• Total Runtime 58:19

Info for Jeu de Tarot

The music of David Felder is often imbued with esoteric, mystical, spiritual or philosophical themes. These have become more apparent in recent works (such as Requiescat for ensemble and electronics, and the trilogy for voice, electronics and video, Shamayim, in addition to the works on the present disc) but, as he argues in a 2015 interview with fellow composer Ethan Hayden, those elements have always been there. They’re just a little more overt now.

Yet even within those parameters Jeu de Tarot, his chamber violin concerto for Irvine Arditti and Ensemble LINEA, offers an intriguing question. (Its title nods towards Stravinsky’s ballet Jeu de cartes, but the similarities end there.) The work is divided into seven movements, each named after one of the 22 cards of the Major Arcana of a Tarot deck: the cards most commonly associated with representations of the Tarot. They are, in order: The Juggler (known in other sources as The Magician); The Fool; The High Priestess; The Hermit; The Empress (Whorld), this movement being named after two cards; The Hierophant (known in other sources as The Pope); and Moonlight. Each movement depicts a scene evoked by portrayals of each of these characters, especially those described by the Russian esotericist Pyotr Demianovich Ouspensky in his A New Model of the Universe of 1917. Such illustrations are highly symbolic, crowded with internal and external references, requiring a lifetime’s study to interpret to their fullest.

The question is this: As listeners, how deep into those representations should we go? Is movement 1, The Juggler, a musical evocation of Will – the divinatory meaning of that card? Can we hear Deception in movement 7, Moonlight? Does movement 3 show us the High Priestess, guardian of knowledge, sat between two temple pillars, one black the other white, as Ouspensky describes her?

Ensemble Signal
Arditti Quartet
Brad Lubman, conductor

Ensemble Signal
described by the New York Times as “one of the most vital groups of its kind,” is a NY-based ensemble dedicated to offering the broadest possible audience access to a diverse range of contemporary works through performance, commissioning, recording, and education. Since its debut in 2008, the Ensemble has performed over 200 concerts, has given the NY, world, or US premieres of over 20 works, and co-produced ten recordings.

Signal was founded by Co-Artistic/Executive Director Lauren Radnofsky and Co-Artistic Director/Conductor Brad Lubman. Called a “new music dream team” (TimeOutNY), Signal regularly performs with Lubman and features a supergroup of independent artists from the modern music scene. Lubman, one of the foremost conductors of modern music and a leading figure in the field for over two decades, is a frequent guest with the world’s most distinguished orchestras and new music ensembles.

Signal’s passion for the diverse range of music being written today is a driving force behind their projects. The Ensemble’s repertoire ranges from minimalism or pop-influenced to the iconoclastic European avant-garde. Signal’s projects are carefully conceived through close collaboration with cooperating presenting organizations, composers, and artists. Signal is flexible in size and instrumentation - everything from solo to large ensemble and opera, including film or multimedia, in any possible combination - enabling it to meet the ever-changing demands on the 21st century performing ensemble.

The Ensemble is a frequent guest of the finest concert halls and international festivals including Lincoln Center Festival, the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Series at Walt Disney Concert Hall, BIG EARS Festival, Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, Lincoln Center American Songbook, The Library of Congress, Washington Performing Arts, Cal Performances, Tanglewood Music Festival of Contemporary Music, Ojai Music Festival, the Guggenheim Museum (NY), the Wordless Music Series, and the Bang on a Can Marathon. They regularly work directly with nearly all the composers they perform in order to offer the most authentic interpretations, a list that includes Steve Reich, Helmut Lachenmann, Michael Gordon, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Oliver Knussen and Hans Abrahamsen.

Throughout 2017-18, they gave the US premieres of a new work for 19 musicians by Steve Reich entitled Runner at venues across the US. Upcoming projects include the world premiere of a new work for large ensemble by Steve Reich in collaboration with artwork and film by Gerhard Richter at the inaugural season of New York’s new multi-arts venue, The Shed, in spring 2019. Signal’s recording of Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians was released in May 2015 on harmonia mundi and received a Diapason d’or and appeared on the Billboard Classical Crossover Charts. Additional recordings include a CD & DVD of music by Lachenmann, with the composer as soloist in “…Zwei Gefühle…” (Mode) and Steve Reich’s Double Sextet & Radio Rewrite (harmonia mundi). Signal’s educational activities include community outreach programs in diverse settings as well as workshops with the next generation of composers and performers.

The Arditti Quartet
enjoys a world-wide reputation for their spirited and technically refined interpretations of contemporary and earlier 20th century music. Many hundreds of string quartets and other chamber works have been written for the ensemble since its foundation by first violinist Irvine Arditti in 1974. Many of these works have left a permanent mark on 20th century repertoire and have given the Arditti Quartet a firm place in music history. World premieres of quartets by composers such as Abrahamsen, Ades, Andriessen, Aperghis, Birtwistle, Britten, Cage, Carter, Denisov, Dillon, Dufourt, Dusapin, Fedele, Ferneyhough, Francesconi, Gubaidulina, Guerrero, Harvey, Hosokawa, Kagel, Kurtag, Lachenmann, Ligeti, Maderna, Manoury, Nancarrow, Reynolds, Rihm, Scelsi, Sciarrino, Stockhausen and Xenakis and hundreds more show the wide range of music in the Arditti Quartet’s repertoire.

The ensemble believes that close collaboration with composers is vital to the process of interpreting modern music and therefore attempts to work with every composer it plays.

The players’ commitment to educational work is indicated by their masterclasses and workshops for young performers and composers all over the world.

The Arditti Quartet’s extensive discography now features over 200 CDs.

42 CD's were released as part of the ensemble's series on Naive Montaigne. This series set the trend, by presenting numerous contemporary composer features, recorded in their presence as well as the first digital recordings of the complete Second Viennese School's chamber music for strings. The quartet has recorded for more than 20 other CD labels and together this CD collection is the most extensive available of quartet literature in the last 40 years. To name just a few, Berio, Cage, Carter, Lachenmann, Ligeti, Nono, Rihm, the complete chamber music of Xenakis and Stockhausen's infamous Helicopter Quartet. Some of the most recent releases with the French company Aeon include profiles of Birtwistle, Gerhard, Ferneyhough Paredes and Dusapin, and with Winter and Winter Abrahamsen.

Over the past 30 years, the ensemble has received many prizes for its work. They have won the Deutsche Schallplatten Preis several times and the Gramophone Award for the best recording of contemporary music in 1999 (Elliott Carter) in 2002 (Harrison Birtwistle) and in 2018 (Pascal Dusapin). In 2004 they were awarded the 'Coup de Coeur' prize by the Academie Charles Cros in France for their exceptional contribution to the dissemination of contemporary music. The prestigious Ernst von Siemens Music Prize was awarded to them in 1999 for ‘lifetime achievement’ in music. They remain to this day, the only ensemble ever to receive it.

The complete archive of the Arditti quartet is housed in the Sacher Foundation in Basle, Switzerland

Brad Lubman
conductor/composer, is one of the foremost conductors of modern music and a leading figure in the field for over two decades. A frequent guest conductor of the world’s most distinguished orchestras and new music ensembles, he has gained widespread recognition for his versatility, commanding technique, and insightful interpretations. His flexibility in a variety of settings has led him to conduct a broad range of repertoire from classical to contemporary works, and to direct projects including orchestra, opera, multimedia, and mixed ensemble.

Lubman has led major orchestras including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Danish National Symphony, NDR Symphony Orchestra Hamburg, DSO Berlin, RSO Stuttgart, WDR Symphony Cologne, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Finnish Radio Symphony, and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.

In addition, he has worked with some of the most important European and American ensembles for contemporary music, including Ensemble Modern, London Sinfonietta, Klangforum Wien, Musik Fabrik, Ensemble Resonanz, and Steve Reich and Musicians. Lubman has conducted at new-music festivals across Europe, including those in Lucerne, Salzburg, Berlin, Huddersfield, Paris, Cologne, Frankfurt, and Oslo.

Lubman is founding Co-Artistic and Music Director of the NY-based Ensemble Signal. Since its debut in 2008, the Ensemble has performed over 180 concerts and co-produced ten recordings. Their recording of Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians on harmonia mundi was awarded a Diapason d’or in June 2015 and appeared on the Billboard Classical crossover charts.

Lubman has been particularly noted for his ability to quickly master challenging scores in a variety of settings, a skill honed between 1989-94, when he was assistant to Oliver Knussen at Tanglewood. Lubman has conducted numerous world premieres. Among these are Steve Reich’s Three Tales, Runner, Daniel Variations, Radio Rewrite, and Variations for Vibes, Pianos and Strings. Additional world premieres given by Lubman include Helmut Lachenmann’s Concertini and Michael Gordon/David Lang/Julia Wolfe’s Shelter, as well as works by Philip Glass, Brian Ferneyhough, Charles Wuorinen, John Zorn, and Hilda Paredes.

Lubman was the 2017 Composer in Residence at the Grafenegg Festival in Austria in his dual role as conductor and composer in residence; a highlight of his residency was a performance with the Tonkünstler Orchestra Austria, where he led works by Brahms and Mahler as well as the world premiere of his own Reflections for orchestra. His recent work Tangents was commissioned by the LA Philharmonic and premiered at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Brad Lubman is on faculty at the Eastman School of Music and the Bang on a Can Summer Institute.

Booklet for Jeu de Tarot