Trevor Bača - Samuel Beckett's Stirrings Still (Paul Griffiths; JACK Quartet)

Information

Composer: Trevor Bača

• Stirrings Still

Paul Griffiths, narrator

JACK Quartet

    Christopher Otto, violin

    Austin Wulliman, violin

    John Pickford Richards, viola

    Jay Campbell, cello

Date: 2026

Label: ECM New Series

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Completed in 1987 as Samuel Beckett’s final prose work, Stirrings Still is a meticulous, monologue-driven composition exploring the threshold between life and the beyond. Celebrated for its musical phrasing and structural repetition—mirroring Beckett's affinity for Franz Schubert—the text is paired with a parallel musical stream composed by Trevor Bača and performed by the JACK Quartet. Rather than serving as background accompaniment, the music alternates with the narrative to deepen the listener's reflection on the text. Produced by Manfred Eicher and recorded in Lugano between 2023 and 2024, the release highlights the profound intersection of Beckett’s literary artistry and musicality.

Texas-born composer Trevor Bača (b. 1975) holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University and serves as a lecturer in music at Yale University. His artistic thematic interests range from esoteric texts and systems to light and magic. Bača’s works have been performed, published, and exhibited globally by prominent soloists and international ensembles, earning him accolades such as Harvard's George Arthur Knight Prize. Beyond composition, he is an accomplished musicologist and technologist, widely published on open-source systems like Abjad, which he co-developed, and contemporary music theory, having lectured at premier institutions worldwide including MIT, Columbia, Stanford, and IRCAM.