"O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you. She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes In shape no bigger than an agate-stone.˝ (William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet)
In English literature Mab, the Celtic goddess of power, was the fairy queen who initially invigorated Romeo; subsequently she inspired others, most notably Ben Jonson and Shelley, eventually bewitching composer Héctor Berlioz (1803-69), the leading light of France’s Romantic movement. Berlioz was certainly obsessed with everything Shakespearean.
Berlioz’s Queen Mab Scherzo, written over 160 years ago, serves as a structural starting point to the latest project by the Queen Mab Trio, an ensemble which has been performing together for a decade, and only issued its debut album – See Saw (Wig 11 records) – in the year 2005. The Canadian-Dutch radical feminist trio plays – in a single word – radical-music. In fact all sorts of radical music, new music, sometimes minimalist (from Erik Satie to Louis Andriessen), while at the same time they are very adept at improvisation in their creation of artfully organised jazz. Ensembles like this are more the exception than the rule. Taking inspiration from Héctor Berlioz this year’s project entitled Thin Air transmutes an old composition into a new era and on into the unknown. Further to this, these consummate musicians – whose education is classical but whose musical ambitions are wide open – reinvestigate the chemistry of the trio, affording sparkling possibilities in the process. Berlioz provides an excellent starting point for anyone who is interested in free music and the re-examination of boundaries: accentuated rhythmic articulation, unusual but nonetheless extremely rich melodies, the idée fixe, spaced counterpoint textures, unique instrumentalisation... Let me just remind you that by way of his audacity, Berlioz expanded the concept of a symphonic orchestra, turning it upside-down in the process. The Queen Mab Trio, which shall play Berlioz, presents such a direct and daring event in miniature. Indeed, you will stare in surprise such unusual music.
Miha Zadnikar
