17 VASSILENA SERAFIMOVA ∙ QUATUOR ARDEO In truth, it is a subtle balance between the marimba, coupled with the vibraphone, and the strings: the former, pulsating and silky, brings a more pronounced rhythmic dimension and occasionally takes on a concertante role; the latter offers a warm lyricism and a texture at times dense or transparent, but always supple. A delicate balance, too, when it comes to paying homage to the works without diminishing their original artistic strength. Here, some of them are transformed and feed into broader themes; water and travel, distant dreams. The resultant musicality is gripping: “We play on an effect of proximity and distance from the original score. At times we seek, in the pieces by Jean Cras and Claude Debussy, among others, moods that are more instinctive, even sensual.” Most of the arrangements, created by Vassilena Serafimova, reveal new connections between these works, bridging tradition and innovation. They intermingle through “the use of ancient modes within an impressionist aesthetic with Debussy, through popular jazz combined with sophisticated harmonies with Gershwin, and through new colours evoking the spirit of baroque improvisation in the Venetian world of Vivaldi,” explain the performers, who add: “As the works and arrangements unfold, the journey takes shape like a travel journal journal where age-old traditions meet fresh inspirations. Melodies in a Bottle aims to be less a programme than a passage, one of maritime or urban perspectives, of real or imagined landscapes, of music whose history is rewritten with every note. A meeting space where curiosity becomes an attractive driving force.”
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