String Quartet No. 1
Work Overview
Instrumentation: violin, viola, cello
Commission: Composer Assistance Program of the American Music Center
Premiere: January 24, 2004, Columbus Chamber Music Society, Columbus, OH by Avalon String Quartet
Duration: 18 minutes
Program Note
A residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in 2001 provided the foundation for my String Quartet. The coordinators of the residency asked the participants to compose a short work for string quartet, no longer than five minutes, which was later read by the American String Quartet. At the time, I had been listening to and absorbing influences from the folk music of certain parts of Asia, including China and Indonesia. I began to think of ways to incorporate the exotic atmosphere created by that music into my own music, and the result what was to become the third movement of my Quartet, “Pizzicato.” Inspired by the success of the American String Quartet’s reading, I composed the first, second, and fourth movements over the next two years. Those three movements also have elements of Asian folk influence, and, in many instances, use the same scale patterns found in “Pizzicato.”
The first movement, “Animato,” is lively with frequent use of interlocking and syncopated rhythms under long, flowing, melodic lines. Next, “Interludium,” the only slow movement, has hints of a folk melody, superimposed over alternating chords that appear and disappear to create an atmospheric mood. As the title suggests, “Pizzicato” requires the string players to pluck the strings of their instruments. The final movement, “Moto Perpetuo,” is a virtuosic display of constantly swirling sixteenth notes that drives the work to an explosive conclusion.
Funded in part by the Composer Assistance Program of the American Music Center, the entire string quartet was premiered by the Avalon String Quartet on January 24, 2004 as part of the Chamber Music Columbus series in Ohio. A string orchestra version of the third movement, “Pizzicato,” exists and was premiered by the San José Chamber Orchestra in December 2001. The American String Quartet performed this work in China this past summer.
I. Animato
II. Interludium
III. Pizzicato (may be performed as a separate work for string quartet)
IV. Moto Perpetuo – Presto Possible
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