Physical Property
Steven Mackey
About this work:
(Published by Hendon Music, Inc.)
Physical Property (Commissioned by Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival for the Kronos Quartet) is the third part of a trilogy for electric guitar and string quartet entitled Fables with Three Tasks. The mystery, microtones, and complicated narrative of the first two parts (On the Verge and Troubadour Songs) give way to a libido driven romp in Physical Property. This music is about the energy of live performance.
Between the ages of eighteen and twenty I was a professional freestyle skiier. My vision of perfection was to careen down the mountain, head over heels, arms and legs flailing, on-lookers gasping, and somehow end up at the bottom with a smile on my face and not a flake on me. This esthetic comes out more in Physical Property than in any other work of mine.The piece demands that an unlikely combo, the quintessential classical music chamber ensemble and the symbol of adolescent rebellion, work together with consumate discipline in the service of joyous freedom.
Steve Mackey
copyright Hendon Music, Inc., a Boosey & Hawkes company
For further information about this work, please contact:
Hendon Music, Inc
35 East 21st Street
New York, NY
10010
(212) 358-5300
composers.us@boosey.com
Year composed: 1992
Duration: 00:16:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:Other Combinations, 2-5 players
Instrumentation: 2 Violin, 1 Viola, 1 Cello, 1 Guitar (Classical/Acoustic)
Instrumentation notes: For electric guitar and string quartet.