Fantasia

Commissioned by the Fromm Foundation and the University of Illinois, the fourteen-minute Fantasia for String Trio soon earned a favorable reputation as gratifying, highly idiomatic chamber music. "The composer shows keen insight into the best registers and texture of the instruments," critic Jay Rosenfeld wrote following its first Tanglewood performance. The opening fugato movement begins with a solo viola passage, outlining the twelve-tone row that generated the work's melodies and chords. The lengthy second movement is an agitated, nervous scherzo without the customary contrasting trio. Impassioned and searching, the final movement ultimately recaptures the opening movement's reflective nature.





Reproduction Rights
This programme note can be reproduced free of charge in concert programmes with a credit to Boosey & Hawkes/McCord.