4 Urban Miniatures (2018)

For string quartet
Duration: 6 minutes

Written for Face The Music as part of MATA Jr. Festival

I. Prussian Blue
II. Carmine Red
III. Icterine Yellow
IV. Ochre Orange

Program note:

This work as a whole focuses on specific colors as seen in an urban environment, with natural and artificial embodiment of color around every corner. Prussian Blue incorporates tremolo shimmers, sappy glissandi, and somewhat blues-style chromaticism to portray the imagery of blue within the context of everyday encounters: puddles on sidewalks, ice hanging off roofs, paint on buildings, the collage of fabric on busy streets, and the sky above. Carmine Red is a fast, lively miniature that captures the character of the color red through syncopation, agitated melodies, and breathless textures. Red has been historically associated with sacrifice, anger, love, danger, and courage, coming together to form a symbol of passion. This reflects the dedication of city-dwellers to their work, the busy flow of traffic, and urban night-life. The color yellow may represent optimism and amusement, betrayal, duplicity, and jealousy, or joy, virtue, and nobility. Due to the many interpretations of this color's character, Icterine Yellow takes on a wandering nature, drifting through the city's many alleyways, dabbling in moments of laughter, pranks, and confusion, lost in the city, as it seeks to find its place of rest in a role of honor. Orange is a color of oddity, celebration, and folly. This final movement, Ochre Orange, is a playful miniature that reflects the variety of cultures and holidays celebrated in a large urban environment and peculiar characteristics that may be imagined in the color orange. The mischievous and careless nature captures the joy found in this combining of traditions, celebrating the acceptance of diversity and providing an exciting close to the work.

Performance recording:

Performed by the Pannonia Quartet of Face the Music
MATA Jr. Festival
ShapeShifter Lab
November 19th, 2018