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QUARTET
for Flute, Bb Clarinet, Viola, and Cello |
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Audio samples
Duration: ca. 12:30
Level of difficulty: Moderate to challenging.
Performance History:Â This work was performed by the SUNY Stony Brook Chamber Players in March, 1998.
Score/Parts Availability:Â Â The score, parts, and complete recording is available from the composer at broter2@verizon.net
Program notes
The Quartet for Flute, Clarinet, Viola, and Cello was written between 1987 and 1988 during graduate studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Coincidentally, the composer would revisit this instrumental combination in his Al-Harizi songs written four years later.Â
The quartet is in three movements, Adagio Molto, Scherzando, and Adagio Molto-Allegro. The first movement immediately sets a strident tone with its emphasis upon dissonant intervals. However, the use of lyrical melodic lines and counterpoint (including a fugato-like passage) are also clearly evident.
The second movement creates a dialogue among pairs, in this case, pairs of winds and pairs of strings. The use of asymmetrical meters serves to maintain the movementâs light, scherzando quality. A middle section, comparable to a Trio section in a classical scherzo movement, offers a slightly different tone with its graceful use of trills. Following this section The opening material returns, creating a conventional A-B-A form for the movement. The third movement begins slowly and showcases the qualities of each instrument as the clarinet, viola, flute, and cello take turns playing free, cadenza-like passages. Between these passages are interjections by the entire ensemble. The final Allegro section returns to the tone established at the beginning with its use of bracing dissonance and contrapuntal interplay. | |
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