“Tetraktis” is a Pythagorean term that symbolizes the first four whole numbers that together add up to ten.
The idea of four as a structure that contains other intrinsic numeric relationships has become the starting point to generate this string quartet. As in other electro-acoustic pieces with instruments that I have realized, my principal interest is to work on the material qualities of the instrumental timbres I am working with.
In the case of strings, I could say that along with the human voice they are the most complex of all instruments, due to the quantity of non-periodic sounds that can be generated. On the other hand, the electronic sounds of the work were made starting from samples recorded from the quartet instruments (violin, viola and cello).
The electronics of the piece are constituted by four digital tracks, with all the sounds spatialized. This is an extremely important quality of this composition, since the electronics exist in three dimensions, sounds moving all around the concert hall with the people in the middle of them

A Commission of the Arditti Quartet by the Ernst Von Siemens Foundation.

Manuel Rocha Iturbide (MX), born 1963, studied composition at the Escuela Nacional de Müsica at UNAM. He completed an MFA in electronic music and composition at Mills College. In 1999 he completed his PhD in Computer music at the University of Paris VIII. He has worked at various studios such as UPIC, GRM, IRCAM, LIEM, BANFF and lMEB. He worked as a researcher at IRCAM developing GiST (1994-95) and later as a professor at the University of Paris VIII (1995-96).