monkish fires (2010)
Genre / ジャンル
String Quartet
Instrumentation / 編成
2 violins, viola, cello
Duration / 演奏時間
3 minutes
Other information / 他の情報
Premièred 21 April 2011, Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur, Montréal, by the Bozzini Quartet
Score available for purchase (pdf or printed copy) from the Canadian Music Centre.
A full recording – taken from the Bozzini Quartet's disc À chacun sa miniature – can be heard and purchased on their website (or other streaming/online purchasing locations).
Programme Note
The inspiration for monkish fires is taken from the 17th century Japanese poetry anthology Wild Azaleas, specifically one of the longer narrative sections called ‘Sutras’. This story describing the love between a priest and a prince, focussing on the love poetry they exchanged throughout their short relationship. In a display of unedifying but very human jealousy and passion, the mysterious disappearance of the prince late in the story causes rival temples to make war on each other, resulting in the burning of several temples.
This miniature work for string quartet presents, in quick succession and sometimes in counterpoint, several different musical portraits of fire: the passionate fires of love, the violent fires of war, the distant glow of flame that might signal destruction or warmth, the intimate light of a candle. On top of these poetic and pictorial ideas, the pitches of the piece are based on a serial matrix derived from the poems themselves, and the form is loosely based on the 5-7-5-7-7 structure of classical Japanese waka poetry.
This miniature work for string quartet presents, in quick succession and sometimes in counterpoint, several different musical portraits of fire: the passionate fires of love, the violent fires of war, the distant glow of flame that might signal destruction or warmth, the intimate light of a candle. On top of these poetic and pictorial ideas, the pitches of the piece are based on a serial matrix derived from the poems themselves, and the form is loosely based on the 5-7-5-7-7 structure of classical Japanese waka poetry.