sunk: one
Evan Johnson
About this work:
Winner: 2003 Brian M. Israel Prize
The “sinking” to which the title of this string quartet refers has both temporal and atemporal – that is, conceptual – meaning for the piece. The conceptual meaning – “sunk” – illustrates the primary aesthetic motivation for the work: the compromising, blurring, “wiping-over” of a musical language of considerable rhythmic, gestural and textural complexity by an intentionally obscuring layer of noise and other instrumental obfuscation. The temporal meaning – “sinking” – is a summary of the piece’s most obvious formal mechanism: the successive attempts and failures of the intricate gestures to maintain an uncompromised grasp on the musical surface, a process that literally grinds to a halt as the piece ends.
sunk: one was written for the Quatuor Bozzini, and was premiered by them at the 2002 June in Buffalo festival.
Year composed: 2002
Duration: 00:08:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:String Quartet
Instrumentation: 2 Violin, 1 Viola, 1 Cello