Ruth Marie Bridge and Daisuke Yamamoto, violins, Joanna Patterson, viola, Jared Ballance, ‘cello. Recorded live in performance, March 2, 2003

Performances

Premiere: Kulas Hall, Cleveland Institute of Music, Cleveland, Ohio, December 4, 2001, Ruth Marie Bridge and Daisuke Yamamoto, violins, Joanna Patterson, viola, Jared Ballance, ‘cello

Tuesday Musical Association, Akron, Ohio, February 11, 2003 and Kulas Hall, at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Cleveland, Ohio, March 2, 2003

Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, He Lu Ting Concert Hall, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Shanghai, China, May 14, 2004

Cleveland Composers Guild, Pilgrim Church, Cleveland, Ohio, February 27, 2005

Fortnightly Musical Club, Kulas Hall, Cleveland Institute of Music, March 14, 2006, Ruth Marie Bridge and Nazig Tchakarian, violins, Jin Yu, viola, Micheal Kaufman, ‘cello

Program Note

This work is in three movements and is sometimes referred to as String Quartet “Betrayals”

I-Lamentations
II-Intermezzo
III-Beyond the Veil

String Quartet No. 1 was composed in the summer of 2001 in response to ideas of betrayal—a person or nation has been or will be betrayed by God, or by another nation or person. The first movement is deeply serious in its form of expression. Intermezzo is a depiction of an evening on the shore of Lake Erie, with gentle waves lapping against the rocks and sparks rising from a driftwood fire into the night sky. The “Veil” in the title of the third movement refers to a “veil of tears.”  This movement employs fugato in an attempt to create an avenue of escape from suffering.