Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: PR.164002720 Cassatt. Composed b...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.164002720
Cassatt. Composed
by Dan Welcher. Spiral
and Saddle. Premiere:
Cassatt Quartet,
Northeastern Illinois
University, Chicago, IL.
Contemporary. Set of
Score and Parts. With
Standard notation.
Composed 2007. WRT11142.
52+16+16+16+16 pages.
Duration 24 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#164-00272. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.164002720).
UPC:
680160573042. 8.5 x 11
inches.
My third
quartet is laid out in a
three-movement structure,
with each movement based
on an early, middle, and
late work of the great
American impressionist
painter Mary Cassatt.
Although the movements
are separate, with
full-stop endings, the
music is connected by a
common scale-form,
derived from the name
MARY CASSATT, and by a
recurring theme that
introduces all three
movements. I see this
theme as Mary's Theme, a
personality that stays
intact while undergoing
gradual change. I
The Bacchante (1876)
[Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania] The
painting shows a young
girl of Italian or
Spanish origin, playing a
small pair of cymbals.
Since Cassatt was trying
very hard to fit in at
the French Academy at the
time, she painted a lot
of these subjects, which
were considered typical
and universal. The style
of the painting doesn't
yet show Cassatt's
originality, except
perhaps for certain
details in the face.
Accordingly the music for
this movement is
Spanish/Italian, in a
similar period-style but
using the musical
signature described
above. The music begins
with Mary's Theme,
ruminative and slow, then
abruptly changes to an
alla Spagnola-type fast
3/4 - 6/8 meter. It
evokes the
Spanish-influenced music
of Ravel and Falla.
Midway through,
there's an accompanied
recitative for the viola,
which figures large in
this particular movement,
then back to a truncated
recapitulation of the
fast music. The overall
feeling is of a
well-made, rather
conventional movement in
a contemporary
Spanish/Italian style.
Cassatt's painting, too,
is rather conventional.
II At the Opera
(1880) [Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston,
Massachusetts]
This painting is one of
Cassatt's most well known
works, and it hangs in
the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston. The painting
shows a woman alone in a
box at the opera house,
completely dressed
(including gloves) and
looking through opera
glasses at someone or
something that is NOT on
the stage. Across the
auditorium from her, but
exactly at eye level, is
a gentleman with opera
glasses intently watching
her - though it is not
him that she's looking
at. It's an intriguing
picture. This
movement is far less
conventional than the
first movement, as the
painting is far less
conventional. The music
begins with a rapid,
Shostakovich-type
mini-overture lasting
less than a minute, based
on Mary's Theme. My
conjecture is that the
woman in the painting has
arrived late to the
opera, busily stumbling
into her box. What
happens next is a kind of
collage, a kind of
surrealistic overlaying
of two different
elements: the foreground
music, at first is a
direct quotation of
Soldier's Chorus from
Gounod's FAUST (an opera
Cassatt would certainly
have heard in the
brand-new Paris Opera
House at that time),
played by Violin II,
Viola, and Cello. This
music is played sul
ponticello in the melody
and col legno in the
marching accompaniment.
On top of this, the first
violin hovers at first on
a high harmonic, then
descends into a slow
melody, completely
separate from the Gounod.
It's as if the woman in
the painting is hearing
the opera onstage but is
not really interested in
it. Then the cello joins
the first violin in a
kind of love-duet (just
the two of them, at
first). This music isn't
at all Gounod-derived;
it's entirely from the
same scale patterns as
the first movement and
derives from Mary's Theme
and its scale. The music
stays in a kind of
dichotomy feeling,
usually
three-against-one, until
the end of the movement,
when another Gounod
melody, Valentin's aria
Avant de quitter ce lieux
reappears in a kind of
coda for all four
players. It ends
atmospherically and
emotionally disconnected,
however. The overall
feeling is a kind of
schizophrenic,
opera-inspired dream.
III Young Woman in
Green, Outdoors in the
Sun (1909) [Worcester Art
Museum, Massachusetts]
The painting, one
of Cassatt's last, is
very simple: just a
figure, looking sideways
out of the picture. The
colors are pastel and yet
bold - and the woman is
likewise very
self-assured and not in
the least demure. It is
eight minutes long, and
is all about melody -
three melodies, to be
exact (Young Woman,
Green, and Sunlight). No
angst, no choppy rhythms,
just ever-unfolding
melody and lush
harmonies. I quote one
other French composer
here, too: Debussy's song
Green, from Ariettes
Oubliees. 1909 would have
been Debussy's heyday in
Paris, and it makes
perfect sense musically
as well as visually to do
this. Mary Cassatt
lived her last several
years in near-total
blindness, and as she
lost visual acuity, her
work became less sharply
defined - something akin
to late water lilies of
Monet, who suffered
similar vision loss. My
idea of making this
movement entirely melodic
was compounded by having
each of the three
melodies appear twice,
once in a pure form, and
the second time in a more
diffuse setting. This
makes an interesting two
ways form:
A-B-C-A1-B1-C1.
String Quartet No.3
(Cassatt) is dedicated,
with great affection and
respect, to the Cassatt
String Quartet, whose
members have dedicated
themselves in large
measure to the furthering
of the contemporary
repertoire for
quartet.
Cassatt. Composed
by Dan Welcher. Premiere:
Cassatt Quartet,
Northeastern Illinois
University, Chicago, IL.
Contemporary. Full score.
With Standard notation.
Composed 2007. WRT11142.
52 pages. Duration 24
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #164-00272S.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.16400272S).
UPC:
680160588442. 8.5 x 11
inches.
My third
quartet is laid out in a
three-movement structure,
with each movement based
on an early, middle, and
late work of the great
American impressionist
painter Mary Cassatt.
Although the movements
are separate, with
full-stop endings, the
music is connected by a
common scale-form,
derived from the name
MARY CASSATT, and by a
recurring theme that
introduces all three
movements. I see this
theme as Mary's Theme, a
personality that stays
intact while undergoing
gradual change. I
The Bacchante (1876)
[Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania] The
painting shows a young
girl of Italian or
Spanish origin, playing a
small pair of cymbals.
Since Cassatt was trying
very hard to fit in at
the French Academy at the
time, she painted a lot
of these subjects, which
were considered typical
and universal. The style
of the painting doesn't
yet show Cassatt's
originality, except
perhaps for certain
details in the face.
Accordingly the music for
this movement is
Spanish/Italian, in a
similar period-style but
using the musical
signature described
above. The music begins
with Mary's Theme,
ruminative and slow, then
abruptly changes to an
alla Spagnola-type fast
3/4 - 6/8 meter. It
evokes the
Spanish-influenced music
of Ravel and Falla.
Midway through,
there's an accompanied
recitative for the viola,
which figures large in
this particular movement,
then back to a truncated
recapitulation of the
fast music. The overall
feeling is of a
well-made, rather
conventional movement in
a contemporary
Spanish/Italian style.
Cassatt's painting, too,
is rather conventional.
II At the Opera
(1880) [Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston,
Massachusetts]
This painting is one of
Cassatt's most well known
works, and it hangs in
the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston. The painting
shows a woman alone in a
box at the opera house,
completely dressed
(including gloves) and
looking through opera
glasses at someone or
something that is NOT on
the stage. Across the
auditorium from her, but
exactly at eye level, is
a gentleman with opera
glasses intently watching
her - though it is not
him that she's looking
at. It's an intriguing
picture. This
movement is far less
conventional than the
first movement, as the
painting is far less
conventional. The music
begins with a rapid,
Shostakovich-type
mini-overture lasting
less than a minute, based
on Mary's Theme. My
conjecture is that the
woman in the painting has
arrived late to the
opera, busily stumbling
into her box. What
happens next is a kind of
collage, a kind of
surrealistic overlaying
of two different
elements: the foreground
music, at first is a
direct quotation of
Soldier's Chorus from
Gounod's FAUST (an opera
Cassatt would certainly
have heard in the
brand-new Paris Opera
House at that time),
played by Violin II,
Viola, and Cello. This
music is played sul
ponticello in the melody
and col legno in the
marching accompaniment.
On top of this, the first
violin hovers at first on
a high harmonic, then
descends into a slow
melody, completely
separate from the Gounod.
It's as if the woman in
the painting is hearing
the opera onstage but is
not really interested in
it. Then the cello joins
the first violin in a
kind of love-duet (just
the two of them, at
first). This music isn't
at all Gounod-derived;
it's entirely from the
same scale patterns as
the first movement and
derives from Mary's Theme
and its scale. The music
stays in a kind of
dichotomy feeling,
usually
three-against-one, until
the end of the movement,
when another Gounod
melody, Valentin's aria
Avant de quitter ce lieux
reappears in a kind of
coda for all four
players. It ends
atmospherically and
emotionally disconnected,
however. The overall
feeling is a kind of
schizophrenic,
opera-inspired dream.
III Young Woman in
Green, Outdoors in the
Sun (1909) [Worcester Art
Museum, Massachusetts]
The painting, one
of Cassatt's last, is
very simple: just a
figure, looking sideways
out of the picture. The
colors are pastel and yet
bold - and the woman is
likewise very
self-assured and not in
the least demure. It is
eight minutes long, and
is all about melody -
three melodies, to be
exact (Young Woman,
Green, and Sunlight). No
angst, no choppy rhythms,
just ever-unfolding
melody and lush
harmonies. I quote one
other French composer
here, too: Debussy's song
Green, from Ariettes
Oubliees. 1909 would have
been Debussy's heyday in
Paris, and it makes
perfect sense musically
as well as visually to do
this. Mary Cassatt
lived her last several
years in near-total
blindness, and as she
lost visual acuity, her
work became less sharply
defined - something akin
to late water lilies of
Monet, who suffered
similar vision loss. My
idea of making this
movement entirely melodic
was compounded by having
each of the three
melodies appear twice,
once in a pure form, and
the second time in a more
diffuse setting. This
makes an interesting two
ways form:
A-B-C-A1-B1-C1.
String Quartet No.3
(Cassatt) is dedicated,
with great affection and
respect, to the Cassatt
String Quartet, whose
members have dedicated
themselves in large
measure to the furthering
of the contemporary
repertoire for
quartet.
Composed by Christian Mason. World premiere: Paris, Cite de la musique, Januar...(+)
Composed by Christian
Mason.
World premiere: Paris,
Cite
de la musique, January
14,
2020. Breitkopf and
Haertel
#EB 9377. Published by
Breitkopf and Haertel
Vistas. Composed
by Shulamit Ran. Set of
Score and Parts. With
Standard notation. 42 +
112 pages. Duration 25
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #114-40698.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.114406980).
UPC:
680160010806.
Shula
mit Ran’s second
string quartet, subtitled
“Vistas,â€
occupies a large canvas
that is cast in a
traditional fourmovement
mold, where the outer
movements present,
explore, and later return
to the work’s
principal musical
materials, surrounding a
slow movement and
scherzo-type third
movement with a trio. In
addition to tempo-based
titles, the individual
movements have subtitles
that are evocative of
each movement’s
character, as follows: I.
Concentric: from the
inside out II. Stasis
III. Flashes IV.
Vistas. My second
string quartet,
“Vistasâ€, is
a work cast in a
traditional four-movement
formal mold, with the
outer movements,
presenting and later
returning to the
work’s principal
musical materials,
surrounding a slow
movement and a
scherzo-type third
movement.While the four
movements’
“properâ€
names -- Maestoso con
forza, Lento, Scherzo
impetuoso, and
Introduzione; Maestoso e
grande – give some
indication of the general
character of the
individual movements, I
have also subtitled, less
formally, each movement
as follows:Â 1)
Concentric:Â from the
inside out 2)Â
Stasis 3) FlashesÂ
4) Vista. The images
evoked by these titles
tell one, I think, a bit
more about the inner
workings of the
quartet.In the first
movement, a prominently
presented opening pitch
(E) reveals itself, as
the movement unfolds, to
be a center of gravity
from which ever-growing
cycles of activity
gradually evolve.Â
While various important
themes come into being as
the movement progresses,
their impact on the
listener has, I believe,
a great deal to do with
their juxtaposition and
relationship to the
initial central point of
gravity.Stasis is, as the
name implies, a movement
where activity seems, at
times, almost
suspended. Being
also, as Webster’s
Dictionary reminds us,
“a state of static
balance and equilibrium
among opposing tendencies
or forces,†it
develops various
materials, including ones
from the first movement,
without bringing them to
points of
resolution.Flashes is
short and very fast,
evoking in my mind the
quick shimmer of
fireflies, a
“sudden burst of
lightâ€, but also a
“brief
timeâ€. Perhaps,
even, a
“smile�Final
ly, the last movement,
Vista, is not only
“a view or
outlookâ€, but also
“a comprehensive
mental view of a series
of remembered or
anticipated
events.â€Â After
a brief recall of the
opening of the second
movement, this movement
brings back all the
important themes of the
first movement in their
original order. But
just as going back can
never really mean going
back in time, the
movement is much more
than recapitulatory.Â
By cutting through
previously transitory
passages and presenting
the main ideas in a
fashion more direct yet
more evolved, it also
sheds new light on
earlier events, offering
a retrospective, synoptic
view of the first
movement as it brings to
culmination the work as a
whole. “Vistasâ
€ was commissioned by
C. Geraldine Freund for
the Taneyev String
Quartet of what was then
Leningrad. It was the
first commission given in
this country to a Soviet
chamber ensemble since
the 1985 cultural
exchange accord between
the Soviet Union and the
United States.
Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: PR.114410380 Composed by Lowell Lieberm...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.114410380
Composed
by Lowell Liebermann.
Saddle, Tape Junction.
Set of Score and Parts.
With Standard notation.
Composed 1998. Opus 60.
48 + 92 pages. Duration
30 minutes. Theodore
Presser Company
#114-41038. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.114410380).
UPC:
680160015160. 9.5 x 13
inches.
My second
String Quartet was
written twenty years
after the first, Opus 4
from 1978. The First
Quartet is an obsessively
contrapuntal work in one
movement, which was no
doubt influenced by my
studies with David
Diamond. I had always
intended to return to the
medium once I left the
astringency of my earlier
style, but it was only
when the National
Federation of Music Clubs
commissioned a major
chamber work, with
unspecified
instrumentation, to
celebrate their 100th
Anniversary that I was
enabled to do so. The
Second Quartet is in four
movements: Moderato,
Allegro isterico, an
Andante theme with 11
variations, and the
closing Allegro, which
then returns to the tempo
of the first movement. An
audience member at the
premiere told me that she
heard echoes of recent
tragic events such as the
Oklahoma bombing in this
work. While I had no such
programmatic intent while
writing the quartet, it
was not an entirely
incorrect assessment of
the work's intended
emotional impact. The
quartet is pervaded by a
sense of seriousness,
even mournfulness. The
second movement's scherzo
is an aggressively
animated piece of musical
machinery. The third
movement's Variations
unfold into a greater
variety of moods than the
others - but the moments
of lyricism are countered
by aggressive or ironic
outbursts. The final
movement's attempt at
triumph quickly subsides
into a return of the
first movement, before
being transformed onto a
sense of resignation and
acceptance as the
chromaticism of the
opening theme is
transformed into a pure
and diatonic C-Major. The
work received its world
premiere by the Shanghai
Quartet at the 100th
Anniversary Congress of
the National Federation
of Music Clubs at the
Congress Hotel in Chicago
on August 19th
1998. My second String
Quartet was written
twenty years after the
first, Opus 4 from
1978. The First
Quartet is an obsessively
contrapuntal work in one
movement, which was no
doubt influenced by my
studies with David
Diamond. I had always
intended to return to the
medium once I left the
astringency of my earlier
style, but it was only
when the National
Federation of Music Clubs
commissioned a major
chamber work, with
unspecified
instrumentation, to
celebrate their 100th
Anniversary that I was
enabled to do so.The
Second Quartet is in four
movements:Â Moderato,
Allegro isterico, an
Andante theme with 11
variations, and the
closing Allegro, which
then returns to the tempo
of the first movement.An
audience member at the
premiere told me that she
heard echoes of recent
tragic events such as the
Oklahoma bombing in this
work. While I had no
such programmatic intent
while writing the
quartet, it was not an
entirely incorrect
assessment of the
work’s intended
emotional impact. The
quartet is pervaded by a
sense of seriousness,
even mournfulness.Â
The second
movement’s scherzo
is an aggressively
animated piece of musical
machinery. The third
movement’s
Variations unfold into a
greater variety of moods
than the others –
but the moments of
lyricism are countered by
aggressive or ironic
outbursts. The final
movement’s attempt
at triumph quickly
subsides into a return of
the first movement,
before being transformed
onto a sense of
resignation and
acceptance as the
chromaticism of the
opening theme is
transformed into a pure
and diatonic C-Major.The
work received its world
premiere by the Shanghai
Quartet at the 100th
Anniversary Congress of
the National Federation
of Music Clubs at the
Congress Hotel in Chicago
on August 19th 1998.
Composed
by Gene Pritsker.
Ensembles - Chamber
Music. Score & Parts.
Duration 5'22. Periferia
Publishing #CM3224PM.
Published by Periferia
Publishing (AY.CM3224PM).
ISBN
9790543573703.
The
great American
philosopher William James
talks about a credit
system of truth in which
we take for granted the
knowledge of the world
around us. For instance
as a child you learn what
a car is, what it looks
like, what it does, what
its made of, etc. So,
every time you see a car
you do not need to re
examine all these
aspects,you use a credit
of truth to know about
all cars what you learned
about the first. I found
this fascinating and made
it a challenge for myself
to translate this
sentiment into music. In
my string quartet a
melody is repeated many
times but each time its
reality is a bit
different, you think you
know this melody at one
point but the music
around it and its
structure are always
mutated a bit to
challenge your credit
system of truth. Gene
Pritsker.
Composer's notes: This piece came about in a rather unusual way. I had a dream i...(+)
Composer's notes: This
piece came about in a
rather unusual way. I had
a dream in which a string
quartet were playing some
very beautiful music. I
was exhorting them to
'play it like late
Beethoven' When I woke
up, I could not remember
any themes or details of
what they had been
playing, but had an
intense memory of the
'feeling' of the music,
which was soft, sensual
and muted, and I
immediately sat down to
write a string quartet.
What began to emerge was
nothing like Beethoven at
all, and very early into
the writing I had a
strong vision of some
people dancing a formal
and intense series of
dances in a village in a
very dry and hot
landscape - the
Australian outback or
Africa maybe. The dances
were very moving, with an
inward, ritualistic
quality and they
obviously had great
meaning for the people
performing them. Geoffrey
Burgon
String Quartet (2vl,va,vc) SKU: BR.EB-9259 Composed by Manuela Kerer. Cha...(+)
String Quartet
(2vl,va,vc)
SKU:
BR.EB-9259
Composed
by Manuela Kerer. Chamber
music; stapled. Edition
Breitkopf.
World
premiere: Stockholm
(Festival O/MODERNT),
June 19, 2017
Music
post-1945; New music
(post-2000). Full score.
Composed 2016/17. 32
pages. Duration 15' -
18'. Breitkopf and
Haertel #EB 9259.
Published by Breitkopf
and Haertel (BR.EB-9259).
ISBN 9790004185599. 9
x 12 inches.
When
Hugo Ticciati asked me to
write a new piece for his
quartet, I was
immediately enthusiastic
about this project. I
love how Hugo and his
O/MODERNT String Quartet
unite old and new music
in a completely natural
way. So, I was absolutely
excited about Hugo`s idea
of having my piece based
on two of my idols, Bach
and Beethoven,
deconstructing the one
and constructing the
other. With all my
respect for these great
composers I gave to the
piece a very personal
inner part consisting of
my own music that
influenced and inspired
the other parts. For the
whole piece I felt very
close to Beethoven, who
said: To make a fugue is
not art, which [is
something] I have made
dozens of times in my
study. But the
imagination will assert
its rights and must come
today, in light of the
old traditional form, to
another truly poetic
element. De/Con is a
travel into different
centuries with different
sound-languages. For me,
it was like having a
wonderful constructive
discussion with Johann
Sebastian Bach and Ludwig
van Beethoven, each of us
trying to speak our own
language, approaching the
others step by step. The
piece could be defined as
a Love Letter to two of
the greatest composers
ever. De/Con could be
preceded by (parts of)
Johann Sebastian Bach's
Die Kunst der Fuge (The
Art of the Fugue) and
succeeded by Ludwig van
Beethoven's Grosse Fuge
(Great Fugue). Ideally,
then, all parts should be
played attacca. It could,
but it hasn't to be
played with these two
pieces. (Manuela
Kerer)
World
premiere: Stockholm
(Festival O/MODERNT),
June 19, 2017.
String Quartet (2vl,va,vc) SKU: BR.EB-9260 Composed by Manuela Kerer. Cha...(+)
String Quartet
(2vl,va,vc)
SKU:
BR.EB-9260
Composed
by Manuela Kerer. Chamber
music; Folder. Edition
Breitkopf.
World
premiere: Stockholm
(Festival O/MODERNT),
June 19, 2017
Music
post-1945; New music
(post-2000). Set of
parts. Composed 2016/17.
32 pages. Duration 15' -
18'. Breitkopf and
Haertel #EB 9260.
Published by Breitkopf
and Haertel (BR.EB-9260).
ISBN 9790004185605. 9
x 12 inches.
When
Hugo Ticciati asked me to
write a new piece for his
quartet, I was
immediately enthusiastic
about this project. I
love how Hugo and his
O/MODERNT String Quartet
unite old and new music
in a completely natural
way. So, I was absolutely
excited about Hugo`s idea
of having my piece based
on two of my idols, Bach
and Beethoven,
deconstructing the one
and constructing the
other. With all my
respect for these great
composers I gave to the
piece a very personal
inner part consisting of
my own music that
influenced and inspired
the other parts. For the
whole piece I felt very
close to Beethoven, who
said: To make a fugue is
not art, which [is
something] I have made
dozens of times in my
study. But the
imagination will assert
its rights and must come
today, in light of the
old traditional form, to
another truly poetic
element. De/Con is a
travel into different
centuries with different
sound-languages. For me,
it was like having a
wonderful constructive
discussion with Johann
Sebastian Bach and Ludwig
van Beethoven, each of us
trying to speak our own
language, approaching the
others step by step. The
piece could be defined as
a Love Letter to two of
the greatest composers
ever. De/Con could be
preceded by (parts of)
Johann Sebastian Bach's
Die Kunst der Fuge (The
Art of the Fugue) and
succeeded by Ludwig van
Beethoven's Grosse Fuge
(Great Fugue). Ideally,
then, all parts should be
played attacca. It could,
but it hasn't to be
played with these two
pieces. (Manuela
Kerer)
World
premiere: Stockholm
(Festival O/MODERNT),
June 19, 2017.
Quartet Sant Petersburg Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle Editorial de Musica Boileau
String quartet SKU: BO.B.3664 Composed by Jordi Cervello. Published by Ed...(+)
String quartet
SKU:
BO.B.3664
Composed by
Jordi Cervello. Published
by Editorial de Musica
Boileau (BO.B.3664).
Cuarteto San
Petersburgo (The Saint
Petersburg Quartet) was
written between January
and March 2011. It owes
its name to the fact that
Saint Petersburg has been
a very significant city
for me. I was invited
there in 1988 to take
part in a big
contemporary music
festival, but my
uninterrupted bond with
the city started on 2002,
thanks to the
negotiations of my friend
and pupil Albert Barbeta.
Since then, I have
constantly travelled
there in order to record
a considerable part of my
repertoire: seventeen
pieces. In addition to
the concerts we went to,
I took the opportunity
during my trips to visit
the well-known
conservatoire where so
many great personalities
from the world of music
composition once taught,
and the place that
launched the most
important violin school
in the whole of Russia:
the school of Leopoldo
Auer. Spending a long
time in Auer's classroom
writing my concert for
violin and orchestra was
an unforgettable
experience for me. His
large portrait motivated
me even
further.
Cuartet
o San Petersburgo evokes
many of the most
cherished and moving
moments that I have had
in this city. It is
structured in four
movements. The first one,
Allegretto-Allegro, opens
with an introduction that
sets forth the two main
themes, amid a soft and
elastic atmosphere. The
Allegro starts vigorously
and in it we find changes
in the tempo and moments
of mystery, as well as
certain seclusion,
returning then to the
emphatic theme where the
counterpoint finds its
place. The movement ends
placidly.
The
Scherzo-marcato that
follows is marked by a
persistent rhythm of
triplets that carries on
from beginning to end.
The tempo does not
change, but brief and
decided themes are
introduced, as well as
passages of counterpoint.
Brief and dissonant
chords are heard
throughout the movement,
which ends
vigorously.
The
third movement, Ut, is a
very special one. For a
while already I had been
playing with the idea of
writing a movement that
was to have the tonality
C as a leitmotiv. This
one is made up by two
slow and static parts. In
the first one, the first
violin plays
pizzicatti-glissandi. In
the second, the first
violin and particularly
the violoncello settle on
C while the other two
instruments produce
descending chromatic
harmonies.
Final
ly, the
Introduccion-Presto (the
Introduction-Presto). It
starts with some bucolic
passages which remind us
of the introduction to
the first movement. A
fast and energetic Presto
suddenly erupts. A kind
of moto perpetuo which
alternates with two
expressive passages and,
towards the end, a viola
and violoncello tremolo,
all of great mystery and
expectation, make way for
a resounding finale
marcato.