In the autumn foliage (2016)

string quartet and electronics

• 5 minutes, 30 seconds

Note

In the Autumn Foliage was written in the summer of 2016 as a gift for the union of two friends, to be premiered at their Seattle wedding in October later that year. The piece first introduces the two violin voices and the initial melody stated in the warm key of D major, the "key of the golden sun" as once described by Russian composer Alexander Scriabin. As the pieces moves forward, this melody is re-introduced with a variety of rhythmic and tonal variations, finally completing its last statement in the bright and effervescent key of A major at the finale of the piece.

The electronic track was created by recording and then manipulating takes of myself "playing and bowing" wine glasses filled with water in the kitchen of my Oakland home. The glasses were filled with just enough water to produce as close to a D major triad as possible. When the piece shifts to A Major near the end, the electronic track, once serving as a comfortable blanket of the home key, brings a lifting, heightened sense of elevation to the strings A Major.

The electronics should be triggered by a fifth member, using a midi controller with a DAW (or something similar).
The electronics in this piece have been spliced into 4 separate cues. Each cue runs about 15 seconds longer than it needs to so there is adequate time to fade in the next cue and to suit subtle shifts in performance tempo. The electronics do not have their own part and should be played while following through the full score. Amplify the quartet alongside the electronics if possible. The electronics should serve as an acoustic bed for the strings to sit on, but not so faint that they are not heard.

Score