OF A FLEETING FLOWER (2018)
2 violins, cello, bass
2 violins, cello, bass
PROGRAM NOTES
During the summer of 2018, I received a fellowship at the Talis Festival & Academy in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. The youngest Fellow at Talis, I was inspired by the Swiss Alps and another tight-knit community of professional chamber musicians for eleven days in July 2018. As part of the fellowship, I was expected to supervise rehearsals for a world premiere during the festival, in addition to attending seminars, readings, other rehearsals, and performances, on top of composing new pieces, including this piece.
Given the short timespan, Of a Fleeting Flower was composed in six days, and consists of an unorthodox instrumentation: instead of 2 violins, viola, and cello (the typical “string quartet”), the piece features a double bass without the viola. Even though this instrumentation was provided for me during composition, it felt particularly suited to the emotional ideas I was exploring in the work: the sensation of time moving too quickly and yet remarkably slowly, timeless moments in which we’re still desperately aware of the seconds ticking, eternal instants in which we experience something beautiful but know it will not last. These thoughts are reflected in the music by the interplay of different melodies, the constant modification of the tempo, and an intentional control of rhythmic complexity—at first still, then gradually more involved, then backing off, then delving in densely. The title references a short poem I composed at the same time as the music:
For the sweet joy of a fleeting flower:
embraced briefly, released reluctantly,
never spurned, ever felt, yet awaiting.
—Jacob Beranek
During the summer of 2018, I received a fellowship at the Talis Festival & Academy in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. The youngest Fellow at Talis, I was inspired by the Swiss Alps and another tight-knit community of professional chamber musicians for eleven days in July 2018. As part of the fellowship, I was expected to supervise rehearsals for a world premiere during the festival, in addition to attending seminars, readings, other rehearsals, and performances, on top of composing new pieces, including this piece.
Given the short timespan, Of a Fleeting Flower was composed in six days, and consists of an unorthodox instrumentation: instead of 2 violins, viola, and cello (the typical “string quartet”), the piece features a double bass without the viola. Even though this instrumentation was provided for me during composition, it felt particularly suited to the emotional ideas I was exploring in the work: the sensation of time moving too quickly and yet remarkably slowly, timeless moments in which we’re still desperately aware of the seconds ticking, eternal instants in which we experience something beautiful but know it will not last. These thoughts are reflected in the music by the interplay of different melodies, the constant modification of the tempo, and an intentional control of rhythmic complexity—at first still, then gradually more involved, then backing off, then delving in densely. The title references a short poem I composed at the same time as the music:
For the sweet joy of a fleeting flower:
embraced briefly, released reluctantly,
never spurned, ever felt, yet awaiting.
—Jacob Beranek
