New Music USA Online Library

Framing [Bitter Sweetness]

Don Freund

Composer's Program Notes

Framing [Bitter Sweetness] for Solo Harp and Mixed Sextet

Don Freund (2004)

Bitter Sweetness, a work for solo harp, was composed in the fall of 1992.  Twelve years later I returned to this work to create a piece for solo harp and mixed sextet for Indiana University's New Music Ensemble. In this work, the harp performs Bitter Sweetness unaltered, with the sextet's interpolations and superimpositions providing context and commentary, a “frame” for the earlier work.

I find the sound of the harp to be the most intrinsically seductive of all musics. The point of Bitter Sweetness is to give edge to this natural acoustic allure of the harp, mixing-in elements which present the more biting, noisier, grittier side of the instrument. Some of these elements are extensive use of the low range, a highly chromatic harmonic and melodic language, sharp articulations and generally loud dynamics. The pervasive half-step pedal glissandi (heard as pedal buzzes near the end) articulate the defining gestures of the piece. In Framing [Bitter Sweetness] these themes and sounds are echoed, decorated and reinforced in the framing sextet of oboe, bassoon, tuba, viola, double bass, and harpsichord.

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