In Medias Res

Don Freund

About this work:

In Medias Res is a quintet version of an earlier piano quartet, A Middle Quartet (“In Medias Res”). This version, for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano, was written for  ONIX: Nuevo Ensamble de México. 

 

The title of A Middle Quartet referred to a number of things: a kinship with the spirit of Beethoven's Middle Quartets (energetic, dramatic, extroverted); a compositional style which draws freely from surrounding influences; the form of the piece (see below), and the composer’s somewhat optimistic surmise that, after 20 years of composing, he should be in his own “middle period.”

 

The formal concept of the work is derived from the narrative technique “In Medias Res” (literally, “in the middle of things,” that is, starting in the midst of the dramatic action). The listener should have a sense of beginning and ending “in the middle.” The work starts with an extended string of “fast music” sections, during which the ideas become progressively more sharply profiled. In the center (which is really the end/beginning of the middle) stands a simple but expressive jazz tune with a rock trio.

 

Year composed: 2005
Duration: 00:17:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice
Instrumentation: 1 Flute, 1 Clarinet, 1 Piano, 1 Violin, 1 Cello
Instrumentation notes: There is also a sextet version of this work, with the addition of a viola.

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