Three Pieces for String Sextet

Description

With gratitude for another commission from the celebrated violinist Irina Muresanu, the composer offers a three‑movement work that boldly reimagines two earlier compositions, culminating in a vivid sonic retelling of a cherished African tale. Excerpt of the first movement , “Udje: Dance of the Missing Sweet,” performed by the string ensemble of the IMI Chambers Players.

Program Notes:

The first movement, Udje: Dance of the Missing Sweet, grows out of the composer’s Twenty-Four Studies in African Rhythms, No. 3, with a subtle nod to a motivic idea from Act II of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker. In the second movement, Mshila: Guiding Spirits, the composer found a new medium through which to explore the Pende tale of motherhood from the Congo region of central Africa. Perhaps the unexpected crown jewel of this work emerges in the third movement, Tales of the Spider. For, across Africa—and throughout the African diaspora, especially in Haiti and Louisiana (“Compair Bouki” and “Compair Lapin”), as well as Venezuela and Cuba—spider tales abound. The finale movement draws inspiration from variant of these stories in which the clever Spider devises a scheme to pit Elephant, “King of the Land,” against Hippopotamus, “Queen of the Rivers,” with the usually gallant Horse somehow complicit in Spider’s trickery. And, as with so many African stories, everything culminates in the most exhilarating way: a spontaneous, irresistible dance celebration.