41A64808-B87A-42D8-864D-783A4EE17740

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ID41A64808-B87A-42D8-864D-783A4EE17740
TitlecodeX504048
Title NameSankaty Dreaming (String Quartet No. 4)
Marketing CopyThe title of the work refers to Sankaty Bluff on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. Cast in two movements, the music is built on the imagery of the sea slowly reclaiming the land through its inexorable wearing down of the picturesque rock.
InstrumentationString Quartet
Commission(not set)
Dedication(not set)
Program NotesSankaty Dreaming (String Quartet No. 4) (2002) was written in memory of all those whose lives have been claimed by the sea.

The title of the work refers to Sankaty Bluff, on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. Atop the bluff sits one of the island's three lighthouses. The lighthouse was of crucial importance to ships traveling by the island to warn of the dangerous shoals. In recent years, the bluff itself has suffered severe erosion from the sea with homes on it needing to be moved or taken down. Behind the bluff lies a landscape of much lower altitude--thus when the bluff eventually erodes fully, the entire landscape of the island will change when the sea "claims" back a huge amount of land.

It is this imagery and inspiration which drives this work in two movements.

The first movement, "Capriccio," opens with a hammered chord which serves as the basis for much of the musical material of the work. In a sense, this returning rhythmic figuration represents the lighthouse's flashing beam, piercing a rough ocean landscape.

The second movement, "Elegy and Arias," is calm and reposed. There is sadness and darkness--an ocean landscape at night. At the end, the first movement's opening hammer-chord returns, although this time it is as a more distant, bell-like foghorn. Under it, one last aria is sung as the work fades to silence. --Carson P. Cooman
Title Brand2
Year Composed2002
Copyright Number(not set)
Copyright Year(not set)
Duration11
Ensemble Size4
Date Created2008-10-31 20:32:11.000000
Date Updated2025-09-30 20:32:11
Inhouse Note(not set)
Bsc Code(not set)
Text Author(not set)
Premier Performance Memo-Ying Quartet. 16 Apr 2004. Rochester, NY.
-World Premiere<B>. The Ukranian Quartet. 19 Mar 2004. 14th Musical Premieres of the Season Festival, Taras Shevchenko National Museum, Kyiv, Ukraine.
Recording Credits(not set)
Review(not set)
Awards(not set)
Title Category10
Title Movements(not set)
Title Grade(not set)
Set Series ID(not set)
Title Instrument Category TextString Duo & Ensemble
Title Sub Category Text(not set)
Title Sub Category76
Title Instrument Header63
Title Grade Text(not set)
Clean Urlsankaty-dreaming-x504048