Jean-François Michel

Emeraude

In 2008, Branimir Slokar commissioned a concert-opening work for his quartet from Jean-François Michel. Five years later, for the 40th anniversary (1973-2013) of the famous ensemble, Slokar renewed his commission, but this time for a work to close the concert. The result is Emeraude, the French name for emerald, the shimmering green gemstone that symbolizes the quartet's anniversary, the friendship and admiration that have long united the two artists. In the first part, heroic motifs are heard, with which the wind players come onto the stage one after the other from the wings. When they are all on stage, a spectacular, subtly dissonant Allegro vivo begins, in which the virtuosity and precise interplay of the four trombonists come to the fore. The piece ends in a bacchanalian apotheosis, a festive ''goodbye'' to the audience.