Balanescu Quartet 'Maria T' album

Balanescu Quartet are set to release a brand new album, Maria T on April 19, 2005 through Mute.

The first album since 2000's Il Partigiano Gionni (Virgin Music Italy) and the first Mute release since 1995's Angels and Insects soundtrack, Maria T is a re-connection with Alexander Balanescu's Romanian roots evoking the spirit of one of his earliest musical influences, the glamorous and iconic folk-singer and actress Maria Tanase (1913-63). Hailed as Romania's Edith Piaf, Maria Tanase led a life of contradiction which mirrored her country's troubled history and also connected with something timeless.

Alexander Balanescu explains the concept: "Following on from my work on the album Luminitza, for which I took elements of Eastern European folk music as sources of inspiration for new musical material, on this particular project I took the songs of Maria Tanase as a basis for new compositions. My intention was not to make transcriptions or arrangements of the ethnic material, but through my own particular musical perspective, (with its classical, jazz, electronic, and generally very eclectic influences) to develop a new personal language, but always remaining true to the spirit of the original source material."

Maria T, Alexander Balanescu's personal homage to Maria Tanase, was conceived as a multi-media experience, reflecting his interest in mixed-media performance. Working in parallel with acclaimed Austrian video artist Klaus Obermaier, the two have created a compelling live show that toured the UK in February including Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. Taking footage from Maria Tanase's live concerts, archive recordings of her songs, and images from Romania's history they developed, re-imagined and manipulated them into a warm and tragicomic world of live music, archive sounds and video projection.

In 1987, Alexander Balanescu left the Arditti Quartet to form his own Balanescu Quartet, which has gone on to acquire a reputation as one of the world's leading contemporary music groups. Collaborators have included Michael Nyman, Gavin Bryars, Ornette Coleman, Peter Greenaway, David Byrne, the Pet Shop Boys, Spiritualized, Kate Bush and Kraftwerk.

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Balanescu Quartet - Maria T