Duration: 16 minutes

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Movements:

I. Prelude (h.c.a)

II. Scherzo in 15 scenes

III. Finale
 

Program Notes:

My third string quartet developed out of a project which was originally for narrator and string quartet and consisted of 21 separate scenes. The story came from Hans Christian Andersen, hence the initials, h.c.a., from the first movement. The Maia Quartet, who commissioned the work, also wanted a concert piece, so I revised, combined, and developed these separate scenes into what is now the middle movement of the work, Scherzo in 15 scenes. This movement, the longest and most involved of the piece, retains something of its narrative characteristics. It’s very rhapsodic; full of starts and stops. In the end, I also added a short Prelude (which transforms Andersen’s initials into a musical motive: B, C, A) and short Finale to frame the more substantial middle movement.

 

-- Pierre Jalbert