Harbor Music

Description

Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Violoncello — This work follows my Quartet No. 1 by five years.xa0 In terms of style and aesthetic aim, however, it seems light years away.xa0 Where the first work, a 28-minute, four-movement piece, took aim at cosmic conflicts and heroic resolutions, the present work is intended as a kind of divertissment.xa0 Harbor Music lasts a mere eleven minutes, is cast in a single movement with six sections, and should leave both performers and listeners with a feeling of good humor and affection. The title comes from my experience as a guest in the magnificent city of Sydney, Australia.xa0 One of its most attractive features is its unique system of ferry boats: the city is laid out around a large, multi-channeled harbor, with destinations more easily approached by water than by land.xa0 Consequently, inhabitants of Sydney get around on small, people-friendly boats that come and go from the central docks at Circular Quay.xa0 During a week’s visit in 1991, I must have boarded these boats at least a dozen times, always bound for a new location - the resort town of Manley, or the Zoo at Taronga Park, or the shopping district at Darling Harbour. In casting about for a form for my second string quartet, a kind of loose rondo came to mind.xa0 Each new “destination” would be approached from the same starting-out point (although there are subtle variations in the repeating theme; it’s always in a new key, and the texture is never the same).xa0 The result, I hope, is a sense of constant new information presented with introductory “frames” of a more familiar nature. The “embarkation” theme, which begins the piece, is a sort of bi-tonal fanfare in which the violins are in G major and the viola and cello are in B-flat major.xa0 It is bold, eager, and forward-looking.xa0 The first “voyage” maintains this bi-tonality, beginning as a 9/8 due for second violin and viola in a kind of rocking motion -much as a boat produces when reaching the deeper water in the harbor.xa0 A sweet, nostalgic theme emerges over this rocking accompaniment. This music is developed somewhat, then transforms quickly into a much faster and lighter episode, filled with rising and falling scales (again, in differing keys).xa0 A scherzando interlude in short notes and changing meters provides contrast, and the episode ends with a reprise of the scales. The second “embarkation” follows, this time in A major/C major.xa0 It leads quickly into a very warm and slow theme, in wide-leaping intervals for the viola.xa0 This section is interrupted twice by solo cadenzas for the cello, suggesting distant boat-horns in major thirds.xa0 The end of the episode becomes a transition, with boat-horns leading into the final appearance of the “embarkation” music, this time in trills and tremolos instead of sharply accented chords.xa0 The nostalgic theme of the first episode makes a final appearance, serving now as a coda.xa0 The rocking motion continues, in a lullaby fashion, leaving us drowsy and satisfied on our homeward journey. Harbor Music was written for the Cavani Quartet, and is dedicated to Richard J. Bogomolny.xa0 Commissioned by his employees at First National Supermarkets as a gift, it represents a “thank you” from many of the people (including this composer) who have benefitted from his vision and generosity.xa0 An ardent advocate of chamber music (and a cellist himself), Mr. Bogomolny has for many years been Chairman of the Board of Chamber Music America.