Furies
and Muses (1997)
for bassoon and string quartet
| SONATA: Allegro moderato e agitato 7:55 |
ARIA: Andante flessibile 7:40 play excerpt  |
| SCHERZO: Presto energico 4:50 play full track |
| RONDO: Lento - Allegro giocoso 8:45
|
(Audio clips are in MP3 format)
In Classical mythology, the furies and muses had clearly
distinguished roles: the furies exacted revenge through ingenious
torments, the muses were shepherdesses to the arts and sciences.
In pre-Classical times, however, this distinction was not so
clear. The earliest sources indicate that the furies and muses
were both aspects of the same goddess in her creative and destructive
phases.
Furies and Muses is a musical juxtaposition of violence
and elegance: throughout the piece, aggressive gestures are
suddenly transformed into phrases of great delicacy, and vice
versa. In many cases, the affect of the music is only thing
that is changed, i.e., the gestures retain all of their structural
characteristics, but with completely different expressive results.
The four movements -- sonata, aria, scherzo, rondo -- all use
traditional forms in nontraditional ways. The sonata-form first
movement, rather than resolving the differences between its
themes, drives them further apart from one another. The second
movement is an aria about the desire (rather than the ability)
to sing. And while the scherzo that follows fits comfortably
within the Classical ABA mold, the music is cartoonish in character,
with a mock-heroic duet for cello and bassoon in the middle
section.
In the final movement, a distant chorale in the strings is answered
by a drunken parody of contemporary pop music. A narcissistic
fugue exposition follows: each instrument insists on playing
nothing but the subject. After the development and intermingling
of these three themes, the piece concludes with a furious bacchanal.
Throughout the quintet, the number three plays a prominent role,
particularly through the use of meters, 3/4, 3/8, 3/2, 9/8,
etc. This numerological consistency is another reflection of
the mythological source: the original furies and muses were
always described as trinities, only later becoming trinities
within trinities, numbering nine each.
A word about the instrumentation: traditionally, the bassoon
has been relegated to the role of orchestral clown, mostly because
of its ability to articulate rapid passages with startling clarity.
As a result, many listeners are unaware of the supple beauty
of its tone, which allows it to blend splendidly with almost
any other instrument, while still serving as a very effective
solo voice. When the bassoon is grouped with a string quartet,
the resulting sonority is quite attractive -- very rich and
dark.
Furies and Muses was commissioned by the 1997 Swannanoa
Chamber Music Festival, and premiered there by Jeff Keesecker
and the Cassatt String Quartet.
ORDER FURIES AND MUSES:
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| “[a] fascinating and imaginative score.” |
- William Thomas Walker,
CVNC |
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