respiri juri seo argus quartet 1. Respiri 7:38
 — in memoriam Jonathan Harvey Argus Quartet Suite For Cello Joeann Whang, cello 2. I. 2:05 3. II. 3:22 4. III. 3:00 5. IV. 2:58 6. V. 2:56 String Quartet — Infinite Season Argus Quartet 7. I. Winter–Spring 13:13 8. II. Spring–Summer 5:36 9. III. Summer–Fall 3:44 10. IV. Fall–Winter 9:54 54:27 String instruments speak in a human voice. Their up and down bow strokes are like the inhalations and exhalations of breath. With their seemingly infinite colors, they convey the full range of human emotions and feelings, from agony to pure bliss. And they are also superhuman. They can sing in the realm of birds; their breaths can extend to eons. This album grew out of my two-year collaboration with the Argus Quartet, an ensemble whose versatility has enabled me to navigate freely within this wide range of human and superhuman possibilities. With Argus, I explore the ubiquitous themes of life, death, memory, and change. The album begins with the titular track “Respiri,” my homage to late composer Jonathan Harvey, whose musical evocations of breathing became the main subject of my work. The second piece, “Suite for Cello,” deals with ideas of memory and identity. Despite the familiar Bach-like surface, there is a lingering sense of displacement—a result of its clashing tones and split harmonic center. If “Respiri” ends with a peaceful death, “String Quartet - Infinite Season” commences an unending cycle of births through a journey that traces the sounds of nature as they change throughout a yearly cycle. —J.S. Juri Seo, a Guggenheim fellow and a Koussevitsky Commission recipient, is a composer and pianist based in New Jersey. She teaches music at Princeton University. www.juriseomusic.com The Argus Quartet is a first prize winner at the Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, as well as the 2017 M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition, and has served as the Graduate Resident String Quartet at the Juilliard School and the Fellowship Quartet in Residence at the Yale School of Music. www.argusquartet.com Argus Quartet Clara Kim & Jason Issokson, violins Dana Kelley, Viola Joann Whang, Cello Recording Engineer: Andrés Villalta Recorded at Taplin Auditorium (Princeton, NJ) in June-September, 2018 Field Recordings: Tracks 7, 8: Juri Seo Track 7: Lucas DeCicco / Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (ML176346) Track 10: Geoffrey A. Keller / Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (ML 105762) Edited by Juri Seo Cover design: www.gradyklein.com Special thanks: The Koussevitzky Music Foundation The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Department of Music at Princeton University Copland House Argus Quartet, Andres Villalta, Philip Blackburn, Mark Eichenberger, Bong Soon Bak, and Joon Seok Seo innova is supported by an endowment from the McKnight Foundation. Philip Blackburn, director, design Chris Campbell, operations director Tim Igel, publicist www.innova.mu © Juri Seo All Rights Reserved, 2019 innova® Recordings is the label of the American Composers Forum www.innova.mu • www.juriseomusic.com