String Quintet

commissioned by Mondavi Center for the St. Louis Symphony Chamber Players

This quintet evokes the play of the wind over a seascape. The work consists of an alternation between two types of music. First, there are a series of sixteen chorales played by the entire ensemble, evenly interspersed throughout. At times they are homophonic, at others their texture is “animated”, but they always project a sense of concerted motion. They begin with a very bare octave sound, rooted on a low F. Over time, they become increasingly rich, using overtone relations as a model for their content and voicing. They cycle through a series of fundamentals, themselves derived from the series of partials off F, ultimately returning to that home “key”. Second, there are free passages between the chorales. These move through every possible combination of the ensemble---solos, duos, trios, quartets, and quintet. They are far more contrapuntal, fantastic, and often racing. I think of the alternation of these two elements as a classical colonnade, through which the wind is whipping. Finally, all these sections group into larger units corresponding to the course of a day: dusk/night/dawn/day. There should be a progression on all levels toward ever greater radiance.

Commissioned by Jeffrey Silberschlag

A brief, one movement work in two parts. A slow, sonorous, contrapunal intro followed by an attacca into a fast, highly rhythmic dance section. Suitable for performance by advanced high school through college woodwind and string quintets.