Nocturne and Minuet
for String Orchestra
December 2002--April 2003
Duration: about 13 minutes
MP3 recording of premiere by the Raleigh
Civic Chamber Orchestra, Dr. Randolf Foy
conductor, November 2003
PDF
Orchestral
Score Parts
Cover
PDF
String
Quartet Score Parts
Cover
I. Nocturne
[7:34] MP3 recording WAV file (CD quality)
II. Minuet
[5:24] MP3 WAV
From 1991 to 2001, I did not have the
housing or other factors in life that would allow me the luxury of composing.
None of my compositions had been performed since 1984, so there was little
motivation to continue. In 2001, I enrolled at NCSU to study physics, which
gave me student housing and a regularized lifestyle. Thus in 2002, I made two
electric violins, one with six strings, with adaptive gear in hopes of being
able to play violin once again, despite my severe arthritis. This in turn led
to the purchase of an old upright piano, and starting to use Finale on my
computer for copywork. I made a new edition of my solo violin music, as well as
music for my six-string violin using a curved bow allowing polyphonic
performance. Once my set of eleven solo violin sonatas was finished, I decided
to warm up and flex my compositional muscles with a larger form. This was Nocturne and Minuet, written for either
string quartet or string orchestra. It was designed to be suited to amateur
performance, and for the enjoyment of the general audience that attends
classical music concerts. It is not as complex or as long as the works that
would follow; this is not an ambitious piece, but rather just something that
might be fun to play and hear, and to get me back in the game after a long
absence. After completing this modest effort, I went on in the following summer
to larger and more sophisticated projects.
The first movement ended up with a
kind of moodiness that justifies the title of Nocturne. The second movement is in strict classical minuet form,
complete with a trio section and minuet
da capo. I don’t usually get the chance to make musicians flip pages back
and forth trying to find the little symbol and hey don’t forget the repeat did
we agree to take it or not? Always good for a little nail-biting during
performance. Don’t let the form fool you, though, this is 21st
Century music, although it may seem to ignore the last 60 years of thumping and
bumping that most in the audience would just as soon forget. You may find a
little Prokoviev, a touch of Bartok in his milder moods, maybe a little Ravel,
and in the Minuet, more than a touch of Papa Haydn in the stew; but the
language is my own.
Nocturne
and Minuet
was premiered by the strings of the Raleigh Civic Chamber Orchestra, conducted
by Randall Foy, in November 2003. This was the first performance of my music in
nineteen years. (I had to wait until 2006 for any other performances.) The
cover photograph, reproduced above, shows me after the concert, speaking with (left to right)
Susan Osborne, Stephen Reynolds, Matt Corne, Dean Lee, and on the far right,
Bruce Sherwood. Steve, Matt, Dean and Bruce were all on the physics faculty
here at NCSU; Susan is Steve’s wife and teaches English here.
Should
time constraints or other limitations lead to an inability to perform both
movements, either may stand alone in a concert.