Stay Close (original version for string quartet)
"Stay Close" emerged from a pandemic-era theme, distinct from my previous motifs. Departing from set structures, it evolves across two parts sans repetition or consistency. The initial "interrupted fugue" disrupts counterpoint with silences. This fugue's core shapes the second part, a choral Finale, where I aim to recapture tonality. Laden with personal struggles and nostalgia, "Stay Close" conceals a meaning that dates back to an enigmatic note in my sketchbook from three years prior.
Program Notes
I composed "Stay Close" using a theme that I had written at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. Despite having been using a "sigh" motif in my other works, including my recent Sonata for Violoncello (third movement) and Suite for Euphonium (fourth piece), this is new: in fact, for this piece I have decided to depart from a predetermined musical structure, and instead composed something that evolves from the first to the second part without any repetition, without any need for consistency.
The first part, which I have candidly called an "interrupted fugue," continually disrupts the natural counterpoint of the parts with blocks of silence. The core gesture of the fugue becomes the germinal cell of the second part, a Finale in choral form, that summarizes my probably impossible attempt to reconquer tonality in my music.
The second part especially is full of personal struggles, emotiveness, and maybe nostalgia. The title, "Stay Close," harks back to an old note in my sketchbook from three years ago - and its meaning remains a secret.
Details
Instrumentation: string quartet
Also available for: string orchestra
Duration: 8’
Premiered by: Dior Quartet
Premiere date and venue: 27/04/23; Mostly Modern Festival 2023 (Middelburg, Netherlands)
ISWC: T-318.927.451-5
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