Walter Hus

Featuring: Zenne Quartet

CD version. 2nd Volume of the close collaboration between Belgian composer / pianist Walter Hus and the Zenne Quartet.

Within Walter Hus's series of string quartets, his tenth string quartet, Paysages pour un ange égaré, is certainly something of an outlier, if only because of its longer title and its more atmospheric character. All his previous quartets are characterized by short, laconic titles centred around an abstract concept (la Théorie, le Désir, le Miroir, la Folie, la Vague, Malinconia, Jeunesse, l'oubli, le rêve...). In that series of titles, Paysages pour un ange égaré seems not quite to fit. It evokes images, questions and atmospheres. An angel wandering through landscapes, searching for traces...

Hus makes this audible through a form that is highly unusual for a string quartet: a suite consisting of no fewer than 19 consecutive pieces of music, each telling its own story and each contrasting strongly with the others, yet together creating a kind of trance that results in an almost cinematic experience.

Hus wrote the work during the final months of his wife Marie Brouchot's life, and it is dedicated to her memory.

Walter Hus, Belgian composer (born 1959), Walter is one of today's most original composers. In the 1980s, Walter Hus was co-founder, pianist, and composer of the group Maximalist!, with which he toured throughout Europe. Since the 1990s, he has performed less on stage and concentrated on composition. An uninterrupted series of composition commissions followed. His 'classical' work includes several operas, a collection of 24 preludes and fugues, cycles of melodies, concertos for violin and piano, symphonic works, pieces for ensembles, and chamber music.

His ten string quartets (Theory, Desire, Mirror, Madness, Wave, Malinconia, Youth, Oblivion, Dream, and Landscapes for a Lost Angel) represent the backbone of his creative output, crystallizing his periods of inspiration over time.

The Zenne Quartet, a young string quartet based in Brussels, has dedicated itself to performing and recording his complete works for quartet on the Sub Rosa label. In parallel with this "classical" creation and always thirsty for experimentation, he has multiplied collaborations with other artists in all genres: painting, video, dance, theater, cinema, comics, video games, rock and techno, etc., as well as projects with amateurs and children.

Since 2000, he has added to this creative output the exploration of a new instrument unique in the world, the Decap Orchestrion, a vast ensemble of acoustic instruments (large organs, an accordion, various percussion instruments) automated and controlled by computer. With this installation, Walter Hus creates entirely new sounds and performs live in a wide variety of contexts, ranging from concert halls to museums, churches, industrial spaces, opera houses, techno music festivals.

In 2022, filmmaker Astrid Mertens painted a portrait of him in her documentary film Walter Hus, a musical journey.

Performed by Zenne Quartet: Claire Bourdet violin, Chikako Hosoda violin, Karel Coninx viola, David Poskin cello.