Six Pieces (1996)
for string orchestra
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University of Iowa String Orchestra
James Dixon, conductor
James Dixon, conductor
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PROGRAM NOTE
Six Pieces, for string orchestra, was commissioned in 1996 for the concert orchestra at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan. The work is constructed on the principle of serialism, a system in which strictly ordered series (or "sets," or "rows") of pitches are used in various combinations to make up the structure of a composition. This order-based approach is quite different from functionally tonal music, in which coherence is based on unordered collections of pitches (major and minor scales, for example). Every melodic line heard in the piece is either a segment or a complete statement of one of four related pitch rows. The six short movements that make up this work explore different methods of articulating the rows: sometimes rows interact with each other as counterpoint, other times the pitches of the row jump from instrument to instrument. Rows can be heard forward, backward, and upside down. Additional variation is achieved by more traditional means—changes in dynamic (volume), changes in tempo (speed), and coloristic instrumental effects like pizzicato (plucking), tremolo (rapid back-and-forth movement of the bow), and harmonics (ghost-like high pitches).