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Trucco
(version for String Orchestra)
A
rather wonderful innovation of the 20th century has
been the reworking of string quartets into versions
for string orchestra. One immediately calls to mind
the electrifying Webern Op. 5 and, of course, Barber’s
gorgeous Adagio. Having been myself a great fan of these
alternate versions, I was happy to oblige a request
for a string orchestra version of my quartet Trucco,
for the Festival of Music in Schruns, Austria.
While
the original quartet is in three sections (a large central
movement framed by a Prelude and Postlude), the version
for string orchestra uses only the Prelude and central
movement. In the classic style of the symphony, the
Prelude is a pensive Adagio, highlighted by
a rhapsodic melody in the celli. The lone voice proceeds
in quiet, lyrical assurance, oblivious to the mild discords
that surround it in the other voices of the orchestra.
The discords become ever more intrusive, finally overcoming
the quiet melody and asserting their own identity and
their own impetus.
The
main section of the work, the second movement, opens
with a tenuous, skittish, passage which gradually gains
momentum and runs headlong into the main motivic idea,
a driving combination of rhythmic patterns which combine
and then transform in each of the string sections. This
passage reaches a dramatic climax, then gives way to
an espressivo center section which makes use
of lyrical melodies, coloristic effects, and fluid rhythms.
After a brief repose, the nervousness of the opening
returns, but with increased direction. Fragments of
the espressivo melodies lend focus and assuredness
as the passage builds to an emphatic conclusion.
The
title, "Trucco," is the Italian word for "disguise,"
"trick," or "sleight of hand." The
original quartet was awarded the Halsey Stevens Prize
by the University of Southern California, First Prize
for Excellence in the Arts from the City of Los Angeles,
and was part of a submission which garnered the 1999
Academy Award in Music from the American Academy of
Arts and Letters.
E.M.
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