Score
String quartet no. 1 : Time's arrow / Stuart Greenbaum.
Library shelf no. 785.714/GRE 1 [Available for loan]
Work Overview
String Quartet No.1 (Time's
Arrow) was commissioned by the A.N.A. Friendly Society and
premiered in November of 1991. The subtitle, Time's Arrow, is taken from
a novel of the same name by Martin Amis and was added after the
work had been completed. The novel represents the story of a life
told backwards (from death to birth), a similarity I found in the
structure of my quartet.
The work is in 4 short movements
and based around two themes. The first movement opens with a
theme that represents experience or memory. The movement
concludes with a second theme (in natural harmonics) which
represents innocence. This second theme is coincidentally quite
similar to the nursery rhyme,Twinkle
Twinkle Little Star.
The inner movements
further develop the first theme and represent the external
journey and then the floating timelessness of emotional
involvement. The final movement returns to the idea of the
journey but in a rapid, compressed state - like a life flashing
before one's eyes - culminating in a reprise of the second
theme.
Work Details
Year: 1991
Instrumentation: 2 violins, viola, cello.
Duration: 13 min.
Difficulty: Advanced
Commission note: Commissioned by A.N.A. Friendly Society.
First performance: by John Pokorny, John North, Rosia Choate, Joy Fletcher — 5 Nov 91. Wesley Church, Lonsdale St. Melbourne Members of the MSO
Revised July 2016
Performances of this work
4 Aug 2016: at Flinders Quartet "Time's Arrow" (Melbourne Recital Centre, Primrose Potter Salon). Featuring Flinders Quartet.
2 Aug 2016: at Flinders Quartet - Quartet on Collins #2 (Collins St Baptist Church). Featuring Flinders Quartet.
31 Jul 2016: at Flinders Quartet "Time's Arrow" (Montsalvat). Featuring Flinders Quartet.
5 Nov 91: Wesley Church, Lonsdale St. Melbourne Members of the MSO. Featuring John Pokorny, Joy Fletcher, John North, Rosia Choate.
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