Chamber Music violin,
piano
SKU:
PR.144407050
Composed
by James Primosch. Set of
Score and Parts. With
Standard notation. 28+12
pages. Duration 20
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #144-40705.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.144407050).
UPC:
680160655519. 9 x 12
inches.
Celebrating
30 years, the
Philadelphia Chamber
Music Society
commissioned a work of
20-25 minutes for violin
and piano from James
Primosch, University of
Pennsylvania professor of
music. Primosch had
originally thought to
create a new sonata, but
what developed is more
appropriately a set of
five character pieces,
two of which were
directly inspired by
poems. Five Poems was
premiered in May, 2016,
and Primosch's thoughts
are recorded at his
website:
https://jamesprimosch.com
/2016/05/10/five-poems-pr
emiere/.
Upon
receiving a commission
from the Philadelphia
Chamber MusicSociety for
a violin and piano piece
in honor of its 30th
anniversary, myplan was
to write a sonata, a term
suggesting a relatively
abstractdiscourse. But as
the piece developed, the
movements struck me
ascharacter pieces rather
than music employing a
more
“symphonic”ap
proach. When specific
poems started to attach
themselves in my mindwith
two of the movements, the
overall title Five Poems
became clear.The title of
the second movement is a
line from Susan
Stewart’s“De
scent”, which deals
with Aeneas’s
visit to the underworld.
The musicis alternately
fiercely driving and
quite still, though
tense.
RobertFrost’s
Nothing Gold Can Stay
summons fleet scale
passages framinglyrical
counterpoint. The
remaining movements do
not refer to
specificpoems, but have
titles reflecting their
expressive tone.
Dreamscape ismusing with
an improvisatory violin
line over shifting pairs
of pianochords. Nightsong
is a bluesy lullaby that
turns highly
dramatic.Vision begins
with a closely argued
struggle but breaks
through tosomething
spacious and clear.
