Childhood (string quartet)
Barbara Holm
About this work:
“Childhood” is a piece in three movements, written for the Lake String Quartet of Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was premiered March 5, 2009.
After deciding what the three movements would be about, and working on it for a couple of months, what began to emerge was an experience that reminded me of childhood.
The first movement, Allegro, is about child’s play; not parentally organized activities, but play as children do it. Flowing from one activity to the next, perhaps pausing to wonder about something or maybe being interrupted by mom checking in, then back to the play; --this movement wanders. To express this, I used a cheerful interplay of folk-song type motives, harmonies, and tonalities.
The second movement, Lento, is about daydreams. Sometimes apprehensive about the future, sometimes filled with bold dreams and plans, --this is a reverie. I used a chromatic, meditative style to try to share this mood.
The last movement, a Rondo, is about growing up; how a child’s play and dreams develop into other experiences. New ideas are presented, and previous ideas appear in somewhat new forms, and these combine and mature.
Year composed: 2009
Duration: 00:15:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:String Quartet
Instrumentation: 2 Violin, 1 Viola, 1 Cello