String quartet
SKU:
FG.55011-775-4
Composed by Alex Freeman.
Classical, contemporary.
Score & parts. Fennica
Gehrman #55011-775-4.
Published by Fennica
Gehrman (FG.55011-775-4).
ISBN
9790550117754.
Alex
Freeman found initial
inspiration for his
string quartet (2015) in
a series of photographs a
geologist friend showed
him of en échelon
veins in rock formations.
The open strings
punctuated with pizzicato
unisons that begin the
single-movement work call
to mind something
crystalline and
shimmering, which is
immediately infused with
tumbling lyrical lines in
something of a rapid
caccia technique
throughout. The middle of
the work becomes more
suspended in slower
material loosely based on
a technique of prolation
canon, comprises layers
of free, expressive,
lyrical, and even elegiac
music moving at different
speeds. As the work
concludes, the materials
converge in a
rhythmically pulsating
stasis and an almost
chorale-like statement.
Duration: c. 13'
This product
includes the score and
the parts (A4 sized).
American-Finn
ish composer Alex Freeman
(b.1972) has established
himself among the
foremost composers of
choral music in Finland.
A dedicated citizen of
his musical community, a
teacher, and a choral
singer himself, he
composes music that
reflects an appreciation
for a wide range of
aesthetics and a passion
for communicating with
listeners and performers.
In his choral works, in
particular, we find music
that aims to be sonorous,
melodic, and resonant,
but is always crafted to
carefully avoid the
cliches that can burden
conventional tonality.
His instrumental
works run the gamut: a
cantata with orchestra
based on poetry of
Whitman; a significant
body of solo piano works
that reveal deep roots in
everything from austere
absolute music to soaring
elegaic rhetoric (see
Albany Records, Inner
Voice); his chamber work
Blueshift (Navona
Records), which is a kind
of paean to Reich and
Adams in miniature;
open-ended modular works,
like various iterations
of his Slow All Clocks
for electronic media,
solo clarinet, and mixed
choirs of kanteles; and,
recently, some new
directions in microtonal
music.
