*(1)
String
Quintet (quartet plus cello)
String
Quintet
parts Cover
(2)
String
Orchestra
String
Orchestra
parts Cover
Violation I
[4:50] Synth
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Finis Origine Pendet
Violation II [4:45] Synth
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With Vigor
Violation III [5:03] Synth
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Largo lacrimoso
Violation IV
[5:04] Synth
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Allegro landini
My
uncle, David Vanderkooi, plays all the different kinds of viols. He told me about
the Leo M. Traynor Competition, sponsored by the Viola da Gamba Society of
America, for works not longer than five minutes for viol consort. This sounded
like an interesting challenge; viol music can be quite enchanting and
enjoyable, and having just finished a work for harpsichord, I was used to the
idea of antique instruments. Besides, I have never come close to winning a
composition prize, where the judges are almost always new music specialists
interested in the avant-garde, which is far from my taste. This is unlikely to
be a problem with viols.
It is
difficult for me to write anything of just five minutes, so I settled for four
movements of that length with the intention of submitting one movement.
According to the metronome, two of the movements are exactly five minutes long,
although it just sort of happened that way.
However,
I was unable to submit any of the movements for the contest as I had posted the
score on my website, which they considered to be publication. Picky picky
picky.
Turns out, the piece was idiomatic
for the string instruments I grew up with, and not very much for viols. I have
arranged it for both string quintet, and for string orchestra. These works for
modern instruments should be played in the usual manner and not in imitation of
the original for viols. The main lingering effect of the viol origins is the
limited upper range of the violins, which should encourage amateur groups to
take this on.