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Quatrain - for string quartet for 2 violins, viola, violoncello Duration - approximately 24 minutes Program Notes: The four movements of Quatrain originally appeared in whole or in part as movements in The Hercules Quartets, a collection of three string quartets that served as my Master’s Thesis. Although I was happy with the collection of work, over time I found that the size and scope of the composition made performances unlikely. I also was not satisfied with all the movements (especially the second quartet), and felt that the best work was scattered through the three quartets. This piece is a revision and re-imagining of the entire collection reduced to a smaller, single work. From the three quartets I chose the best material and went back through and cleaned it up. Some of the movements remain relatively unchanged, but some have substantial revisions. Instead of keeping the original title, I thought with rebirth came the chance to rename the work. A quatrain is a short poem or a stanza of a larger poem that consists of four lines with some sort of rhyming scheme. I liked the idea of a quatrain because it had four lines to go with the four parts and the four movements of this string quartet, as well as for the obvious wordplay on “quart”. In order to connect with the title I wrote a quatrain that both connects to the original inspiration and serves as subtitles for each of the four movements. The man-god chases beasts of penitence Enjoy.
Ryan Jesperson
The second movement was read and recorded by Aaron Packard (vln), Sarah Washburn (vln), Russ Podgorsek (vla), and Katie Kennedy (vc), on Oct. 6th, 2006. An early version of the third movement was recorded by the West End String Quartet in December, 2006. The fourth movement was read and recorded by the Miami String Quartet in April, 2006.
The Miami String Quartet read the A collection of Hartt Graduate students |
Upcoming Performances
Fall, 2012: Joseph Abad will premiere a new Saxophone Sonata. Fall, 2012: Jordan Jacobson will perform fragments and memories in CT. Spring-Summer, 2012: Jeux pour Jumeaux will be performed in San Francisco, CA. Spring, 2012: Bobby Watson and the UMKC Big Band will premiere Rhapsody for Dean Moriarty in Kansas City, MO. Spring, 2012: Ashly Evans will premiere Birdsongs in Houston, TX. Spring, 2012: BA(da)SS will be performed by Ryan Ford in West Hartford, CT. Spring, 2012: Jordan Jacobson will perform fragments and memories in CT. Spring, 2012: Not Death, but Love will be premiered by Ineo Saxophone Quartet. Spring, 2012: David Tayloe will perform A Page Out of Zen in CT. May, 2012: The Invisible, Magic, Soccer Phone will be premiered in Middlefield, CT. April, 2012: The UMKC Opera Dept. will perform portions of Songs from Behind the Curtain. April, 2012: David Tayloe will premiere A Page Out of Zen in NY. Feb. 17th, 2012: The 016 Ensemble will be perform Romanza for Alto Saxophone and Violin in Manchester, CT. Dec. 3rd, 2011: Ryan defends his dessertation, Songs from Behind the Curtain at UMKC. July 17th, 21st, 24th, 2011: Music Faculty from the Sebago-Long Lake Music Festival will perform ...and those seven dwarfs in a series of concerts in Western Maine. June 16th, 17th, 23rd, 24th, 2011:Orphée Redux will be performed by Rhymes With Opera on their East Coast Tour (NYC, Baltimore, Hartford, Boston). June 12th, 2011:Selection from Songs from Behind the Curtain will be performed at the John Duffy Composers Institute in Norfolk, VA. May 13th, 2011: The Ineo Quartet will perform the 1st movement of Not Death, but Love on their Fischoff Competition program in South Bend, Indiana. March 19th, 2011: The Ineo Saxophone Quartet will perform ...and love is fire... from Not Death, but Love at the NASA conference in West Point, NY. Feb. 25th, 2011: I. Jest will be premiered by Robert Olson and the UMKC Orchestra in Kansas City, MO. Feb. 14th, 2011: Hebdomas Squatinae will be performed at the Nebraska at Kearney New Music Festival. | ||||
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Copyright© 2011 Ryan Jesperson | |||||
