Augusta Read Thomas: Clara's Ascent (For String Quartet)

Description

On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Clara Schumann, this work hono urs the legacy and contributions of a pioneering performer, caring collaborator and artistic confidant. NMP1092 CLARA'S ASCENT for string quartet features the solo cello in a lyrical and intricately contrapuntal work. The cello serves as protagonist as well as a fulcru m point, on and around which the other player's musical force-fields bloom, rotate, and proliferate. Although highly notated, precise, carefully structured, soundly prop ortioned, and while musicians are elegantly working from a nuanced, specific text, I like my music to have the feeling that it is organically being self-propelled - on the spot - as if we listeners are overhearing (capturing) an un-notated improvisation. This short work celebrates the manner in which the musicians embody sound. Musical transformations and carefully crafted connections unfold with a natural impulse. An optimistic, flexible-sounding, sonorous ascending journey weaves itself forward as if it is spin ning innately out of their instruments. In the most general of terms, the form of the work is a 6-minute crescendo during which the soloist moves from the very lowest notes up to the highest possible, reaching as if the soloist is trying to kiss the sky.