String Quartet No. 8

Description

Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Violoncello — My Eighth and Ninth String Quartets, begun in late 2017, are sonic cousins. Akin toreal cousins, each piece exhibits differing natures. They were requested by two ensemblesthat have become “second families” to me:The Jupiter Quartet of Urbana, Illinois and the Amernet Quartet based in Miami, Florida.Their collective dedication to, and care for, our art remains a personal and constant“re-fueling” for me. The quartets were commissioned by, and dedicated to, Margaret andPhilip Verleger of Denver, Colorado. Additional financial support was provided by theSchool of Music at Stetson University, Timothy Peter, Dean.Quartet No.8 is laid out in a classical four-movement design. The work does breaksomewhat from conventional tradition by often placing quartet membersinto soloistic roles as the movement titles note.individualThe opening piece presents at the outset a three-note motto which is turned over,tumbled, and energetically discussed, primarily by a violin duet. It is a duel. Thetwo players part company only infrequently during the movement's progress, pausingbriefly for other commentary by their ‘lower cohorts’, the Viola and Cello do not argue,but abet their friends' ‘efforts’. The piece's overall character is fairly bright and dancelike,closing in an unresolved“standoff”.notTwo principal “sound-objects” stitch the second movement scherzo together:sliding hands (glissandos) and a plucked “shuffle” (pizzicato) - both instigated bythe (solo) cellist. The others are influenced - or are not - by their ‘leader’, and follow -or interrupt - the cello throughout their four-voiced conversation.The third movement (longest of the set) is an elegy dedicated to the memory of aclose personal friend, the American composer David Maslanka (1943 - 2017). Its'genesis is a simple 5-note melody derived from my own name (S•D•E•H). Thisline commences in the (solo) viola and is obsessively uttered without relief duringthe movement's lamentations.The closing movement revisits much of that opening "three-note" material, butnow dressed up for the full quartet to view. It is a slowly accelerating romp which -twice - cannot avoid a nod to the Amernet and Jupiter performers by offering ahumble bow to the 4th movement of Gustav Holst's "PLANETS - Jupiter: TheBringer of Jollity."My quartet serves as an honouring salute of thanks for the talent, respect,and friendship of these two young quartets. STRING QUARTET No. 8 is roughly22 minutes in duration. It was written as an homage to Franz Joseph Haydn, my“desert-island-composer”, and completed in Holly Hill, Florida in early April of2019.S.H. Hodkinson's fascinating STRING QUARTET NO. 8 seems like a set of delightful yet deep puzzles. The inscription tells us the work is an homage to Haydn, although that inspiration doesn't appear at the works surface. Throughout the 22-minute work's 4 movements, the bubbly opening of Holst's "Jupiter" starts up and evolves into more abstract and haunting music. The 3rd movement is a memorial to composer David Maslanka, featuring the viola in the lead, and the 4th movement is a jubilant conclusion that allows Jupiter to finally emerge.