STRING QUARTETS
The Space Coast Symphony Orchestra String Quartet at a performance of Rapunzel (full title: The Rampion Girl or the Story of Rapunzel) with narrator and Space Coast Director Aaron Collins (second from left) and me (center).
Rapunzel (5/16/17) for string quartet and narrator – approx. 23’00”. This delightful tale is true to the original by the Brothers Grimm. he piece is recommended for audiences of all ages.
Live performance. The premiere performance by a string quartet from the Philharmonic Association with William Kalland, narrator, took place at the Cameron Village Library in mid-March with a second performance on March 31, 2018, at the West Regional Library in Cary, NC.
Meditations (6/6/15) for string quartet – 19’00”. There are four meditations in this composition, each with a different character. The first is largely melancholy, despite the energetic pizzicato that begins the movement. There is conflict here. Within the second movement there is the dichotomy between fast and moderate sections. The fast section is bright and cheerful, while the moderate is contemplative and somber. The Adagio movement is even more somber than the first movement, but the last is bright, positive and largely major. MIDI performance.
Fantasy in Chartreuse and Kelly Green (4/24/2014) for string quartet – 8’40”. This single-movement work depicts the energy and vibrancy of early spring. The theme is short and appears on many different pitches to symbolize the ubiquitous growth that characterizes springtime. Several new ideas pop up before plucked strings accompany a return of the opening material that brings the piece to a close. MIDI performance.
Appalachian Waters (8/11/13) for string quartet – 11’35”. The three movements of Appalachian Waters were inspired by actual places. “Valle Crucis Mountain Spring” is on a mountain path behind the Episcopal Church. Scales based on repeated interval patterns allow the string players to repeat the same finger pattern on each string. When the parts are combined, the result is quite chromatic. “Bass Lake” is part of Moses Cone Park along the Blue Ridge Parkway and has wide, peaceful walkways. An accompaniment of open fifths played as natural harmonics is heard against dyads in sevenths that frame a tonal middle section. “The Banner Elk Spillway and Mill Pond” border Lees-McCrae College. The movement begins with polychords. An active accompaniment of ascending sixteenth notes and descending triplets play against a slow, rising melody in the middle section. The movement ends with the same polychords that started it. MIDI performance.
String Quartet No. 5 (1/30/13) – 14’50”. The work is a series of dances: evocative and tonal dances from the imagination, following no prescribed plan. The first movement is marked adagietto. An opening melody by the first violin and a new melody from the cello lead to a dance rhythm, resembling a bolero. The second movement is marked allegro moderato and begins in a rather sing-song manner with an oom-pah bass line interrupted by syncopations. The first violin begins an unexpected four-voice fugue but the movement closes as it began. The third movement, marked adagio, is a deliberate departure from the condensed activity of the second movement. It uses solos and duets text to create a dirge-like interlude. The fourth movement is marked allegro and uses quartal harmonies to delineate sections that allow each instrument in the quartet to shine. A series of canons develop the material and bring it to a close. MIDI performance.
The Arab Spring (2012) for string quartet– 18’00”. Inspiration for this work came from the remarkable struggles in Egypt that led to the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak. Thus, the prolonged and arduous process needed to create democracy began. Overthrowing the tyrant was just the beginning. There are four movements. “Newfound Freedom” attempts to capture the sense of subdued elation and eventual celebration of the Egyptian people. “Compassion with Conflict” creates both a sense of joy and of underlying stress. “Empathy and Sorrow” emphasizes the price that was paid in human suffering and despair. The mood here is sad but not tragic. “Living with Joy” has a rhythmic drive and sense of play. Five-beat and seven-beat groupings help capture the spirit of Middle Eastern folk music. MIDI performance.
String Quartet No. 3, “Patchwork” (1993) – 23’00”. All of the movements in this quartet started out as something else. “A Windy March” was intended for wood- wind quintet. The twenty measures or so in the fragment needed to be reworked for four instruments instead of five, but the march-like quality and the title remained as reminders of the movement’s birth. “Partial Homage” refers to the title of the original Homage, a piece for orchestra written as a graduation exercise when I was working on my doctorate. I arranged the current movement by working down the original from triple winds, percussion and strings to the bare necessities. “Amplified Aboriginal Waltz” is the reworking of a movement from a successful piece for solo alto saxophone entitled Natural History, written for Ken Hubbard when he was a Visiting Artist at Central Carolina Community College. The work was a suite of pieces written in honor of Margaret Mead. “Aboriginal Waltz” was less than a minute long and always seemed to me to deserve a more complete setting. “Bear Revisited” is a reworking of the last part of Blue/Ramblin’/Bear, a work for trumpet, cello and piano written for Paul Morton and his wife Susan. The “Bear” in the title was something I intended to be rather vague. I composed the work after seeing the movie, The Bear, about a rambunctious cub.
Live performance. The work was premiered at Coastal Carolina Community College by the Carolina String Quartet (North Carolina Symphony Principals) on January 9. 1994.
Conflicting Visions: String Quartet No.2 (1990) – 24’10”. The work is in four movements, all derived from the opening measures of the piece. The first movement is quite somber, interrupted by a warmer middle section. The second is manic, interrupted by a slow waltz. The third is very slow and features the cello. The fourth is vibrant and lively, again interrupted by sorrow.
Live performance. The work was premiered January 20, 1991, by the Carolina String Quartet NC Symphony Principals) at Coastal Carolina Community College.
Southern Landscapes (1981) for string quartet – 15’40”. In the first movement, each instrument has a characteristic solo within the context of the whole that results in a dialog, full of overlapping voices, and differing points of view with sudden agreements. The second movement is an adagio that seems dissolute until the middle section. There, a pained, chromatic canon between the upper voices provides a sharp focus before the dissolute material returns. The third movement is a Latin-flavored dance in shifting meters and rhythms. It has a light-hearted and fragile quality that is at odds with its rhythmic vitality. The finale features rapidly descending scales against a bold statement from the cello. The middle section brings back the idea of dialog. Here, the context is one of longing and despair. The opening returns before a brief codetta reminding listeners of the middle section.
Live performance. The work is performed here in a 1989 recording by the Ciompi Quartet of Duke University.
The Ciompi Quartet