AMERICA

When the Arod Quartet commissioned a piece connected to their repertoire for the year, it seemed entirely natural to draw inspiration from Dvořák's 'American' Quartet. Perhaps because I am a violist and the melody of its first movement constantly resonates within me, out of admiration for this composer who found his modernity in his cultural roots, or because I was in the United States myself at that time and saw the opportunity to share in my own way the inspiration drawn from the landscapes unfolding before my eyes.

Rather than a simple tribute or quote, I preferred to use the concept of the palimpsest as a guiding thread—the medieval process of erasing a parchment to inscribe a new text. America was born from this principle: symbolically erasing Dvořák's quartet to trace my own notes, steeped in its presence and motifs, but translated differently to evoke the America of today; while taking on a challenge echoing the frenzy of our time: condensing four movements into four minutes.

As I progressed in the writing, this idea revealed all its beauty: whether we are conscious of it or not, every artistic creation always overwrites another, just as today's nature covers yesterday's, as buildings cover houses, and events cover History. In art as elsewhere, humanity progresses in successive layers, leaving behind traces that gradually fade along its journey toward an ever-receding horizon.

America belongs to the Exils cycle, which brings together short, rhythmic pieces for string quartet inspired by various regions of the world.