Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.144407270
Composed
by Sydney F. Hodkinson.
Sws. Set of Score and
Parts. 44+16+16+16+16
pages. Duration 22
minutes. Merion Music
#144-40727. Published by
Merion Music
(PR.144407270).
UPC:
680160681891. 9 x 12
inches.
My Eighth
and Ninth String
Quartets, begun in late
2017, are sonic cousins.
Akin to real cousins,
each piece exhibits
differing natures. They
were requested by two
ensembles that have
become asecond familiesa
to me: The Jupiter
Quartet of Urbana,
Illinois and the Amernet
Quartet based in Miami,
Florida. Their collective
dedication to, and care
for, our art remains a
personal and constant
are-fuelinga for me. The
quartets were
commissioned by, and
dedicated to, Margaret
and Philip Verleger of
Denver, Colorado.
Additional financial
support was provided by
the School of Music at
Stetson University,
Timothy Peter, Dean.
Quartet No.8 is laid out
in a classical
four-movement design. The
work does break somewhat
from conventional
tradition by often
placing quartet members
into soloistic roles as
the movement titles note.
individual The opening
piece presents at the
outset a three-note motto
which is turned over,
tumbled, and
energetically discussed,
primarily by a violin
duet. It is a duel. The
two players part company
only infrequently during
the movement's progress,
pausing briefly for other
commentary by their
alower cohortsa, the
Viola and Cello do not
argue, but abet their
friends' aeffortsa. The
piece's overall character
is fairly bright and
dancelike, closing in an
unresolvedastandoffa. not
Two principal
asound-objectsa stitch
the second movement
scherzo together: sliding
hands (glissandos) and a
plucked ashufflea
(pizzicato) - both
instigated by the (solo)
cellist. The others are
influenced - or are not -
by their aleadera, and
follow - or interrupt -
the cello throughout
their four-voiced
conversation. The third
movement (longest of the
set) is an elegy
dedicated to the memory
of a close personal
friend, the American
composer David Maslanka
(1943 - 2017). Its'
genesis is a simple
5-note melody derived
from my own name
(SaC/DaC/EaC/H). This
line commences in the
(solo) viola and is
obsessively uttered
without relief during the
movement's lamentations.
The closing movement
revisits much of that
opening three-note
material, but now dressed
up for the full quartet
to view. It is a slowly
accelerating romp which -
twice - cannot avoid a
nod to the Amernet and
Jupiter performers by
offering a humble bow to
the 4th movement of
Gustav Holst's PLANETS -
Jupiter: The Bringer of
Jollity. My quartet
serves as an honouring
salute of thanks for the
talent, respect, and
friendship of these two
young quartets. STRING
QUARTET No. 8 is roughly
22 minutes in duration.
It was written as an
homage to Franz Joseph
Haydn, my
adesert-island-composera,
and completed in Holly
Hill, Florida in early
April of 2019. S.H.
Duel
