CANTATE POUR CORDES
Commissioned by Yehudi Menuhin with the cooperation
of the Guelph Spring Festival, CANTATE POUR CORDES was written
between October 1986 and January 1987. Composed for the occasion
of the the 20th anniversary of the Festival, the work was written
for Mr. Menuhin and the Gstaad Lysy Chamber Orchestra, of which
he is the founder.
The use of the word "Cantate" is well suited to the
score in the sense that it was written in a cantata style where
the emphasis is obviously on vocal writing. Here however the strings
replace the singers and we find in the first movement, LAMENTO,
a chorus played by all the strings. In the second movement, ARIAS,
a violin and a cello solo representing a female and male voice
is followed by a violin and cello duet, which are accompanied
by the full string section. In the last movement, CANONS, constructed
similar to choral variations, a theme and several canonic variations
are played by all the strings, in the midst of which a quartet
is heard alone and to which the other strings are gradually added
for the finale and apotheosis.
