Chamber Music Cello,
Piano, Violin
SKU:
PR.414411630
Composed
by Shulamit Ran. Set of
Score and Parts. With
Standard notation.
28+28+20+24+20+24 pages.
Duration 20 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#414-41163. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.414411630).
ISBN
9781491114551. UPC:
680160089956. 9.5 x 13
inches.
EXCURSIONS
is a one-movement work
exploring two
“characters.â€
A rhapsodic, descending
passage is introduced by
the cello, followed by
a static,
chorale-like phrase for
the violin and cello.
Their individual
developments are
separated by a slow,
contrasting middle
section. The composer has
written: “This is
analogous to situations
in life: we stand by a
crossroad, choosing one
option and forfeiting the
other. But in art, the
realm of the imagination,
we can perhaps afford to
pursue more than one
route to its ultimate
destination… or can
we? It is symbolic that
in this work both roads
eventually lead to the
same
place.â€.
Excursi
ons for violin, cello and
piano, is a one-movement
work of tripartite
structure in which
materials explored in the
first of three large
sections are brought back
in the last section.Â
The traditional
statement-contrast-restat
ement form, which is
readily suggested by such
a description, is,
however, not at all in
the mold in which the
work is cast. Rather,
my aim was to subject the
essential materials of
the piece (two
“charactersâ€
–the rhapsodic,
descending passage played
by the cello in the very
opening and, later, a
static, slow moving,
chorale-like phrase for
the violin and cello) to
two entirely different
developments separated by
a slow, contrasting
middle section. This
is analogous to an
exploration of the
ramifications that two
divergent choices made by
the same person might
lead to. In life, as
we stand by a crossroad,
choosing one option
usually means having to
forfeit the other.Â
But in art, the realm of
the imagination, we can
perhaps afford to pursue
more than one route to
its ultimate
destination…or can
we? It is, I believe,
symbolic that in this
work both roads
eventually lead to the
same place: in composing
Excursions, it seemed
absolutely inescapable
that at the end the slow,
contrasting middle
sections – both
more resigned and
peaceful than the
battling spirits of the
outer parts –
should return briefly to
end the work. The
piano trio combination
(once highly favored, but
to this composer still as
challenging today) is
approached here as a
collaborative effort of
three equal soloists
– partners. Of
the available pairings,
the two strings find
themselves occasionally
approached as a team
pitted against the
piano. The
cello-piano combination
is also not uncommon
here, and there is an
extended violin cadenza
toward the end of the
piece. The writing
for the three instruments
is closely and at times
interlinked, but the
players are all
instructed to play from
scores. Excursions was
first performed at
Brandeis University in
1982.
