Taut

Taut

Guitar Quartet
Duration: 6:30

 

“… a dramatic, highly strung piece.”
~Maria Nockin. “Corona Gtr Qrt: TAUT on ALBANY,” Classical Reviews, Fanfare Magazine, July 20, 2015

“In some ways, the clue to Hindman’s sound world is “Taut” … Throughout the pieces there is a sense of tension but also forward direction: not for her the suspended and sometimes apparently aimless shimmerings of some recent composers. The great temptation, I suppose, is to become besotted by particular sound effects to the extent of losing sight of other musical elements, such as structure and momentum—the ability to think in whole sentences and paragraphs and not just in striking phrases. Here, pieces have a sense of direction and worthwhile things to say.”
~Michael Wilkinson, “Dorothy HINDMAN (b. 1966), Tightly Wound: Music for Strings,” MusicWeb International

Program Notes:

Taut, adj.  1.  Tightly drawn, as in a rope.  2.  Emotionally tense.
Taut for guitar quartet takes its inspiration from the physical way in which the strings are drawn across the bodies of the four instruments.  Taut manifests this physical tension through very tight ensemble playing and heightened emotional states.  Taut also attempts to tightly draw in the listener through a number of musical devices including abrupt formal shifts, repetition, and timbral effects.  Taut is very tightly organized, spun out from four related rhythmic/harmonic motives presented at the outset of the work.  This unison idea is worked out four times into different types of polyphony/heterophony (: first scales, then heterophony, then harmonics, and finally rasqueado chords). Taut was written in the summer of 2003 for the Corona Guitar Kvartet.

Premiere: Oct. 2, 2004
Corona Guitar Kvartet
Buffalo, NY, Toronto, Canada and Birmingham, AL
Commissioner: Corona Guitar Kvartet

Recordings:  Tightly Wound: Music for Strings, innova 965, and Taut, Corona Guitar Kvartet, Albany TROY 1540
Available on iTunes and Amazon, and wherever digital media is sold.