Extremities (Quintet III)
Bruce J. Taub
About this work:
Extremities is my second work composed for the Da Capo Chamber Players and was premiered at Carnegie Recital Hall in 1978. They premiered my first quintet there in 1972. The title refers to the "extreme" contrast that exists within most of its musical parameters (register, dynamics, timbre, etc.). The form is 'extremely' complex and contains a great deal of musical information although the formal structure is relatively simple (ABABAB with the returns varied a great deal). I consider the piece to be "in" F because of the ways in which the pitch is articulated at important places. The piece opens with octaves (four F's) that have a duration of six sixteenth notes. In fact, this signals the start of all the A sections. The A sections are characterized by sustained notes in the winds and strings and piano arpeggios followed by octaves played in 'extreme' registers. The B sections are rhythmically more disjunct because of a compositional method that alternates groups of pitches with two different, but related structures. One group does not use octaves and is presented in close registral positions with its durations "stretched out," and the other uses octaves in open registral positions with its durations "condensed."
Extremities is published by C.F. Peters Corporation.
Year composed: 1977
Duration: 00:12:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:Other Combinations, 2-5 players
Instrumentation: 1 Flute, 1 Clarinet, 1 Piano, 1 Violin, 1 Cello
Instrumentation notes: fl(=picc), cl(=bcl)