Howl
for Narrator and String Quartet
by Lee Hyla
String Quartet - Sheet Music

Chamber Music String Quartet

SKU: CF.BE4

For Narrator and String Quartet. Composed by Lee Hyla. SWS+Inserts. Classical. Set of Score and Parts. With Standard notation. Composed December 12 1993. 40+40+40+40+80 pages. Carl Fischer Music #BE4. Published by Carl Fischer Music (CF.BE4).

ISBN 9780825836244. UPC: 798408036249. 9 X 12 inches. Key: A minor. English. Text: Allen Ginsberg. Allen Ginsberg.

The rhythm and tone of Allen Ginsberg's reading of the poem Howl was a main inspiration for Lee Hyla in this ferocious setting. In this score, the narrator and string quartet are equal partners in an often shifting relationship, occasionally uniting in a close and intense rhythmic world and sometimes telling similar stories in separate ways.
When I began the composition of the string quartet for Howl, the tone and rhythm of Allen Ginsberg's reading of the poem were a major inspiration and source of musical ideas. I wanted to convey a sense of the music emerging from the poem/reading and then, as the piece evolved, have the quartet become independent, commenting and colliding with the power of the poem and throwing it into a variety of textural reliefs. In Howl, the narrator and string quartet are equal partners in an often changing relationship, sometimes united in a close and intense rhythmic world and sometimes telling similar stories in separate ways.