Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Work Overview

In homage to "Polovtsian Dances" from Borodin's opera "Prince Igor" (1890), the first movement of the string quartet explores the Polovtsians (Turkish nomads) dancing to entertain Prince Igor at the request of his captor Khan Konchak. The music delves into elements of traditional Turkish "makam" scales which include quarter-tones and odd-metered rhythms. The central melodic section is in response to the slave girl dance used at the opening of the scene. The women in the opera chorus sing about their homeland, hence the use of traditional Turkish elements to reflect the setting in 12th Century Europe.

The second movement of the quartet gets its name from the Shostakovich ballet written in 1931. Both "The Bolt" and Borodin's "Prince Igor" were premiered in the famous Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg (though 41 years apart). In Stalin's Russia of the time, artists were under scrutiny for being too "avant-garde", and unfortunately Shostakovich's ballet was banned after only one performance. The composition brings forth some of the more modern aspects of the score with a mechanical factory scene, and scenes which amused audiences for their comedy and pastiche of Western dance music. You will hear a slow drunken waltz, Tango, Charleston, Polka and a Communist March.

Work Details

Year: 2022, this version: 2024

Instrumentation: Strings.

Duration: 10 min.

Difficulty: Advanced

Contents note:   I. Polovtsian Dances -- II. The Bolt – a) The Factory -- b) The Bar -- c) The Bolt.

Commission note: Commissioned for Acacia Quartet.. Commissioned by the Bowral Autumn Music Festival for the Acacia Quartet