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Wapwallopen

string quartet no. 1

  • Year

    2000
  • Duration

    11:00
  • Level

    Professional
  • Perusal Score

    View

Movements:

I. Moderato, un poco secco
II. Presto

I particularly like the string quartet’s ability to sound “as one voice”—like a giant quartet stop on an organ—juxtaposed with the ability to produce different (many more than four, even) colors simultaneously. Quartets can also show off rhythmic drive and syncopation like nothing else, and so both movements of Wapwallopen are crammed with mixed meters, motors and grooves, and intricate counterpoint.

My title choices sometimes derive from Delaware Indian words from Northeastern Pennsylvania, especially when the title is demanded before the piece is written. Wapwallopen, besides sounding quite alliteratively exciting, is also a little town southwest of Wilkes-Barre, PA, across the Susquehanna River from a nuclear power plant.

Genres:   Chamber

Subgenres:   Strings

Commissioned by

The 2000-2001 New York Youth Symphony Chamber Music Program


Recent Performances

  • February 4, 2011 - The Fifth Floor Collective at The Lily Pad, Cambridge, MA.
  • October 21, 2006 - MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music, Bowling Green State University at 27th Annual New Music & Art Festival. String Quartet No.1
  • July 18, 2001 - Diller-Quayle String Quartet at Church of the Holy Trinity, NY.