New Oars for an Old Boat

Program Notes

“How should we think about contemporary composition?” it is sometimes asked. “New wine in old bottles? New wine in new bottles? Regrettably old wine in new bottles—or in old bottles, perhaps?” It’s a common enough metaphor, but I would not choose any formulation of it. The image of wine bottles traps composition within categories, even commodities. I seek something that speaks more to process, to becoming, to the unfinalizable, to aliveness and connection with past and future. Thus I find myself riding more comfortably in the image of a boat, open to the air, navigating a river. For me it is a graceful old boat, but one I try to row with new oars.

Accordingly, I have chosen a traditional ensemble for this piece, the string quartet—as well as equally presenting the piece in two less familiar forms: the mandolin quartet and the mandolin orchestra. Similarly, much of the architecture of the music is familiar and, I believe, venerable: melody, development, counterpoint, even a fugue for a few bars, and triadic harmony. But I have chosen a more augmented triadic structure than minor or major—literally, as I base most of the piece on the two whole tone scales and the four augmented chords they give to the ear. The piece paddles in this ambivalence, approaching various tonal centers and then gliding away from them, until it finally docks back at home in a major chord. Along the way, I try to use the opportunity of the augmented chord for glints of another graceful and well-varnished old boat: that of klezmer music. But that may be for my ears alone.

 

Performance Notes

This is a piece of moderate difficulty on violin, and moderate to advanced difficulty on mandolin. The violin I/mandolin I voice has one fast and tricky section in the middle of the piece. The mandola/viola part goes rather high, and also is expected to carry its share of the musical foreground. The cello/mandocello also has a prominent role in the piece, and a somewhat atheletic one. The mandobass and guitar parts, though, have modest demands. The violin version calls for sustained artificial harmonics in several places, and the mandolin version goes close to the playable top of the mandolin family's range. But the main challenge for all versions will be staying together on the numerous changes of tempo, and in reading through the litter of accidentals that whole tone scales necessitate.

The duration of the piece is 7 to 8 minutes.

For parts, contact the composer.

 

String Quartet

192 bit MP3 of live performance (12 megs)

96 bit MP3 of live performance (6 megs)

Score: PDF

Parts: Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello

 

Mandolin Quartet

192 bit MP3 of computer playback (10 megs)

96 bit MP3 of computer playback (5 megs)

Score: PDF

Parts: Mandolin I, Mandolin II, Mandola, Mandocello

 

Mandolin Orchestra

Nota bene: The parts for the core quartet of mandolins (mandolin I and II, mandola, and mandocello) are the same for the quartet and orchestra versions of the piece.

192 bit MP3 of computer playback (10 megs)

96 bit MP3 of computer playback (5 megs)

Score: PDF

Parts: Mandolin I, Mandolin II, Mandola, Mandocello, Mandobass, Guitar

 

All content copyright © 2003 to 2004 Michael Mayerfeld Bell. All rights reserved.

Page last updated June 12, 2004