Luimen

For a number of years I had been thinking of writing a piece based on the sound of plucked instruments like the mandolin, guitar, and harp, so when the Nieuw Ensemble asked me for a piece I realized that this group had excellent players of these three instruments to which I added trumpet, trombone and vibraphone and composed a one movement fantasy whose title was chosen by the Ensemble (meaning ‘moods’).  The score opens with a fast movement during which the mandolin picks out a line of short notes.  A guitar solo accompanied by the group follows and the work concludes with a coda for the sextet.  The music was composed during the early summer of 1997 in Southbury , Connecticut.





-Elliott Carter


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This programme note can be reproduced free of charge in concert programmes with a credit to the composer