string quartet
Abbreviations (PDF)
Boosey & Hawkes
Blanc dominant for string quartet was inspired by the visual world of Guido Molinari. It comprises 8 movements in a theme and variations form.The theme unfolds in two parts:
Part I: vertical dimension (harmonic theme) ; Part II: horizontal dimension (melodic theme).
Each of the seven variations proposes a musical connection to paintings by Molinari:
• Mutation I
• Tension
• Space / asymmetrical
• Black Diagonal
• Mutation II / triangle
• White dominant
• Coda / continuum
Molinari’s paintings serve as a poetic trigger for an autonomous musical response. The point here is not to try to turn the visual into the audible. Blanc dominant is rather the outcome of contemplation, the meeting of two artistic tendencies and the recording of an enchantment. This work shows a little of how Molinari’s visual works resonate in my imagination; it is an aural tribute.
