String Quartet No. 2
Aaron Jay Kernis
About this work:
(Published by Associated Music Publishers)
My Second String Quartet uses elements of Renaissance and Baroque dance music and dance forms as its basis and its inspiration. I have been playing various suites of Bach's and pieces from the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book at the piano for my own pleasure for years, and I think that I had suspected for some time that their influence would eventually show up in my work.
The first movement is a kaleidoscope, an overstuffed medley of many types of dances played separately and sometimes simultaneously. It is in three large sections. The first section is an exposition of many different strands of energetic music, while the second opposes two gentler dances, the Canzonetta and a Musette. The final section brings back most of the diverse elements the opening in many varied guises and leads to a climactic uncovering of a simple direct version of the main tune of the movement.
The second movement alternates two different slow Sarabandes (a slow dance in triple time) with short bursts of frenetic, furious music. It is dedicated to the memory of Bette Snapp, a much beloved supporter of new music, and composers who passed away as the movement was being written.
The final movement is based in some fundamental ways on the last movement of Beethoven's Opus 59 No. 3 String Quartet. It is a propulsive and energetic Double Fugue, Tarantella, Rondo, Gigue, and eventually a Triple Fugue, all wrapped in an overarching sonata form. String Quartet No. 2, "musica instrumentalis" was commissioned for the Lark Quartet by the Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center in New York City, Ohio University, and The Schubert Club of St. Paul, with additional funds from Chamber Music America. It is dedicated to Linda Hoeschler "in gratitude for her friendship, generosity, and support, and in honor of her perpetual faith in the creative spirit."
-- Aaron Jay Kernis (used by permission)
For further information, please contact:
Associated Music Publishers
257 Park Ave South, 20th floor
New York, NY 10010
Phone: 212 254-2100
Fax: 212 254-2013
E-mail: schirmer@schirmer.com
Year composed: 1998
Duration: 00:39:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:String Quartet
Instrumentation: 2 Violin, 1 Viola, 1 Cello