String Quartet No. 4

Description

Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Violoncello — Wallace Stevens' poem "The Planet on the Table" begins -"Ariel was glad he had written his poems,They were of a remembered timeOr of something seen that he liked."In this string quartet, also entitled "The Planet on the Table", my planet is made of the music and sounds of a remembered time or of something heard that I liked.The quartet has five movements, each headed by a quotation from one of Stevens' poems* as a point of departure or pathway into those remembered sounds and music:I. Mrs. Anderson's Swedish BabyII. She Measured the HourIII. Scene 10 Becomes 11IV. Someone Has Walked Across the SnowV. His Self and the SunLike Stevens, my self and the sun are one, and my music, like his poetry, although makings of my self, is also makings of the sun. Stevens wrote it was not important that his poetry survive, which is also true of my work.What matters is that my music, like his poetry, should bear some lineament or character, some affluence, if only half perceived in the poverty of its sounds, of the planet of which it was part.*Sources for the titles:I. The Pleasures of Merely CirculatingII. The Idea of Order at Key WestIII. Chaos in Motion and Not in MotionIV. Vacancy in the ParkV. The Planet on the Table Based on Wallace Stevens' poem "The Planet on the Table" this string quartet's world is made of the music and sounds of remembered times or of something heard that the composer, Martin Bresnick, liked. The quartet has five movements, each headed by a quotation from one of Stevens' poems as a point of departure or pathway into those remembered sounds and music. "What matters is that my music, like his (Stevens') poetry, should bear some lineament or character, some affluence, if only half perceived in the poverty of its sounds, of the planet of which it was part."