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Stringed Theory - Violin

Location

Main Library
Lecture Hall
449 Broadway
Cambridge, MA 02138

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Description

Join the Cambridge Public Library and musicians Liubomyr Senyshyn and Maria Gorkun for the grand finale in our Stringed Theory series, this month exploring the violin. Gorkun and Senyshyn, both born in Ukraine and both students of Mark Lakirovich at the Longy School of Music, will explore repertoire for violin duet as well as violin and viola duet.

In this program we will explore all major eras of written concert music: Baroque, Classical, Romantic, 20th century and contemporary music.

The baroque era is represented by J.S. Bach, with the pieces he wrote for his kids to practice the clavichord and harpsichord. He called them inventions and wrote two cycles of two and three voiced inventions. These pieces are a great introduction to polyphony, a musical texture with several voices, each of them having its own melodic line, often with repeated and echoed musical phrases.

The classical period is highlighted by Haydn’s duet in two movements. The first movement is written in form of variations, which was a great way of showing both composer’s technique in creating different melodies in the same harmonic pattern as well as highlighting the performer’s technique and virtuosic mastery of their instrument, as the patterns get more and more intricate. The second movement is a lively and charming Presto,

Belgian composer, teacher, brilliant violinist and pianist Charles de Beriot is considered an exceptional representative of the Romantic period. He was fascinated and influenced by the writing and playing of Italian virtuoso violinist Niccolo Paganini, who famously revolutionized violin playing technique and inspired various myths and mystifications around his persona. Beriot adopted the brilliant technique and tastefully seasoned it with emotional elegance and lyricism.

Many composers of 20th century were attracted by traditional music of different nations. Bela Bartok, the Hungarian composer, pianist, teacher, was not an exception. He was known as ethnomusicologist, and with his friend and fellow composer Zoltan Kodaly he traveled to remote parts of Hungary and recorded peasant songs in the attempt to preserve and revive traditional music. The rhythms, melodies and forms of the folk tunes transcribed into their works in various forms. Later in his life he explores folk music of Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldavia, Yugoslavia, Turkey, even Algeria and Morocco. In the selected duets we will hear some of those dances that he collected and adopted during his studies.

American composer, pianist, and collaborator Margaret Boswell composed these 8 duets following the in depth study of the canonic repertoire of Luciano Berio, Belá Bartok, Reinhold Glière, and Ezra Laderman; fusing the technical and musical demands of these composers works with the fluidity and unique melodic character of her own compositional style. This set pins a specific character with each one, from mirroring the space in the land she grew up in with the open sounds of 4th and 5ths in “Plainsong,” to a comedic take on the lively dance of the “Gigue,” to mimicking conversational interruptions and off kilter dialogue in “Moderato,” and “Scherzo/Lento.” The 8 duets in whole ultimately aim to also show off the versatility in sound and potential of these instruments individually and in tandem.

David Hawthorne Is a guitarist living in the Boston area. He studied jazz and classical composition at New England Conservatory. His pieces for Zither ensemble are notable, as is his String Quartet #1, nocturne for Viola and Orchestra, and pieces for piano. He currently leads a jazz quartet called Timeghost playing his jazz music. He composed this piece specifically for Maria and Liubomyr.

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Page was posted on 4/22/2019 2:41 PM
Page was last modified on 7/25/2023 6:22 AM
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