Inscriptions

For solo violin

By Shulamit Ran

Item Number: PR.114406430

ISBN 9781491111352. 9 x 12 inches.

Inscriptions is an effort to carve out, with a relatively constricted textural palette, three distinct spaces in time, employing a fairly broad range of moods as well as violin playing techniques.
Composing for a solo, essentially melody-line instrument such as the violin, is a challenge I have found myself drawn back to time and again over the years.  Inscriptions for Violin follows solo works written (in reverse chronology) for flute, cello, and clarinet since 1978.  The challenge for me, all the more intriguing in the context of what is generally considered non-tonal language, seems to be in creating a sense of presence, concreteness, centeredness, and direction, with just a horizontal line to work with.  (In the case of a string instrument, double notes and chords are, of course, possible, but within definite limits).  Inscriptions, then, may be said to be an effort to carve out, with a relatively constricted textural palette, three distinct spaces in time, employing a fairly broad range of moods as well as violin playing techniques. Perhaps the following informal subtitles will allow a glimpse into the three pieces’ respective “states”: Possessed by the Devil; Rondino (mostly tongue-in-cheek); Upsurge. Inscriptions was commissioned by and dedicated to Samuel Magad, Co-concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and was composed in April, 1991.—Shulamit Ran.