String Quartet by Derek Bermel String Quartet - Sheet Music
By Derek Bermel
5143095
String Quartet
5143095
5143095
5143095
Details
Chamber Music Cello, Viola, Violin 1, Violin 2
SKU: PR.621027580
Composed by Derek Bermel. Folio. Parts. With Standard notation. Duration 7 minutes. Peermusic Classical #62102-758. Published by Peermusic Classical (PR.621027580).UPC: 680160432493.
String instruments, by virtue of their ability to slide ("glissando") between notes, can arrive at a sound close to singing. My Quartet was written in 1991-92; I had been listening to Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess," particularly the a capella "Doctor Jesus" sections, and I wondered what the result would be if I attempted to notate some of the subtle inflections characteristic of African-American gospel music. So I wrote a melody with "dummy" words, "I'm Going Down to the Valley," composing and notating all the vocal inflections using quarter-tones. This short piece was dedicated to Bill Albright, my composition teacher at the time. He died just a few years later, and now the piece feels like a eulogy to me. The Borromeo Quartet recorded both this Quartet and Soul Garden for a disc of my chamber music on C.R.I.
