Chamber Music String
Quartet - Advanced
SKU: PR.114414200
For String
Quartet. Composed by
James Matheson. Sws each.
Contemporary. Set of
Score and Parts. With
Standard notation.
Composed February 10
1998. 24+8+8+8+8 pages.
Duration 13 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#114-41420. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.114414200).
ISBN
9781491111284. UPC:
680160594719. 9x12
inches.
Composed
for violinist Baird
Dodge, James Matheson's
SPIN is a three-movement
study in various meanings
of the word spin. I. Gyre
has the character of a
whimsically spinning
object in a sort of
arena. II. Web is
essentially a slow
movement. It explores a
nearly static, sinewy
texture comprised of
slowly undulating chords
in which snippets of
melody emerge from the
notes held while the
chords disappear. Similar
to the first movement,
III. Spiral explores a
kinetic notion of
spinning, this time in
the form of rapidly
rising scales.
SPIN
was composed in early
1998. Each of the
work’s three
movements assumes the
task of exploring a
different meaning of the
title.The first movement,
Gyre (as in gyroscope),
has the character of a
whimsically spinning
object in a sort of arena
– spinning and
bouncing off the walls
(like a spinning penny,
which bounces off of an
object unpredictably and
with somewhat explosive
force). The primary
musical idea consists of
high harmonics in the
violins set against a
rocking pulse in the
lower strings. This basic
texture is explored in
various guises as the
movement progresses.Web
is essentially a slow
movement. It explores a
nearly static, sinewy
texture comprised of
slowly undulating chords.
Snippets of melody emerge
from the notes held while
the chords disappear. The
music intensifies,
leading to an expected
climax (or anti-climax)
of pizzicatos, before
returning to the opening
material and winding
gently to a close.Like
Gyre, the third movement,
Spiral, explores a
kinetic notion of
spinning, this time in
the form of rapidly
rising scales. The formal
idea of this movement,
however, has the
character of a spiral,
with its tendency toward
implosion.SPIN was
written for violinist
Baird Dodge.