Voices and Echoes (1999)
for string quartet
duration: 15'
Commissioned by Jeanne Ruddy Dance
Premiered June 20, 1999. Merriam Theater, Pennsylvania, PA.
Choreographed by Igal Perry.
With this work, I attempted to write a dance score that didn't depend on percussion, or on strong rhythmic drive at all. (The last of the three movements is driving, but the other two are slow and much more lyrical than many of my other scores.) My personal favorite is the first movement, which remains largely in 6/8 but tries to sound rhythmically disorienting by shifting individual entrances away from strong pulses. My wife (and the dancers in the premiere) prefer the second movement, which is inspired by the music of David Lang and Arvo Part. Someday I hope to arrange the last movement for a large string orchestra, as I think it would be much more effective in that setting.