Share Album:
Axioms
Karl Blench composer
Axiom Quartet
An axiom is a self-evident truth. Everything on this album represents different aspects and shades of truth. On their debut recording, Axiom Quartet probes the soul and delivers a deeply satisfying statement on truth and inner fulfillment.
Each track is a whirlwind journey of soul searching expression. From the bravado of “Insight” into the confounding swirl of “Hindsight,” and on to the profoundly elegant “Pur Ti Miro,” this recording turns tempo and style on a dime leaving the listener exhilarated.
While “Insight” is the exhilarating realization of truth, “Little Lies” bends truth. Axiom Quartet’s arrangement of the Fleetwood Mac classic is a refined, yet provocative update that feels surprisingly at home in a chamber setting. An understated dignity adds depth to country-folk standard “Wagon Wheel,” with a delicate banjo dancing under the Quartet’s strings. In “Everything Means Nothing to Me” an artist painfully expresses the truth in his heart while Billie Holiday begs a lover to not tell her the truth in “Don’t Explain.”
“Axiom” is a work about seeking truth and reason, only to have had the answers present from the beginning. Karl Blench wrote all of the arrangements and original compositions for this album. There are small moments of music, also original compositions of Karl Blench, between each of the longer sections of this album. They blend and blur the ideas of the music that comes before and after them to portray the grayer tones of truth.
The Axiom Quartet includes violinists Dominika Dancewicz and Ingrid Gerling, violist Nina Bledsoe, and cellist Patrick Moore.
Known for creating and performing programs that mix traditional string quartet repertoire and transcriptions of works from a variety of genres (including jazz, electronic, rock, indie, etc.), Axiom Quartet introduces audiences to extraordinary music from different genres and creates new fans of the classical repertoire.
The Axiom Quartet serves as outreach ambassador for Chamber Music Houston, one of the Houston’s top chamber music presenters. The CMH sponsorship allows the group to perform their innovative programs in communities where access to live music is limited.
Listen
Artist Information
Axiom Quartet
The Axiom Quartet is a dynamic professional ensemble based in Houston, TX. The group is known for creating and performing programs that mix traditional string quartet repertoire and transcriptions of works from a variety of genres (including jazz, electronic, rock, indie, etc.). By combining these genres, the quartet exposes classical music audiences to extraordinary music from different genres, and creates new fans of the classical repertoire.
Karl Blench
Karl Blench is a composer and conductor who holds bachelor’s degrees in education and music theory from the University of New Hampshire, and a Master’s degree and DMA in composition from Rice University. His music has been performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Cuba. Recent engagements include performances of his works by the Shepherd School Chamber Symphony, the h2 Saxophone Quartet, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the University of New Hampshire and University of Houston Wind Ensembles.
