Chamber Music Work of the Day, Installment 29:
"Movement for String Sextet" (From a Prison)
for
2 Violins, 2 Violas, and 2 Cellos
(Composed 1984, Arranged 2012)
Originally scored for a brass sextet made up of 2 trumpets, 2 horns, and 2 trombones, I composed this work while I was a music composition student of Arthur Berger at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. It was performed in that version in the school's Brown Hall that year.
Honestly, I am surprised that Mr. Berger did not suggest scoring this movement for strings instead. The sustained notes required to perform it are very difficult to achieve on brass instruments, especially on the trombones, and the repeated notes can be achieved by bouncing one's bow (spiccato).
When it became possible to import SCORE (DOS) music files into Sibelius, I set about importing every one of my compositions that were engraved using SCORE so that I can do as I please with them. This included the music for this movement, so, in 2012, I rescored it for strings, and gave it the nickname, "From a Prison", because the repeated notes reminded me of the sounds of a prisoner scraping a cup against the bars that cage him or her, begging for food, like in old movies.
Follow the next URL to view a high quality synthesized scrolling score music video for "Movement for String Sextet" on my YouTube channel which I created to encourage live performances.
"Movement for String Sextet"is available for licensing from me, and for sale from Sheet Music Plus. Follow the next URL to visit the distributor's product page for this title.
Follow the next URL to view a watermarked PDF score of "Movement for String Sextet" on my website.
Follow the next URL to here to listen to a synthesized rendition of "Movement for String Sextet" on my website.
Thank you for your time and attention, and happy 2025 to one and all.
Stanley M. Hoffman, PhD
Link to my website: https://www.stanleymhoffman.com
Biography Published in Grove Music Online (The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Oxford University Press)
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