QUINTUS
for clarinet, violin, cello, marimba and piano
Written: 1996
Duration: 7'
Instrumentation: B-flat clarinet, violin, cello, 4 1/3 octave marimba and piano
Winner of the Society for New Music Brian Israel Prize
Premiere: Music Links Consort Concert, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Auer Hall, Bloomington, IN, August 3, 1996.
Publisher: Bill Holab Music
PROGRAM NOTE
In medieval music, ‘quintus’ means the fifth voice or part. In Quintus, I highlight each part, usually as a solo, but sometimes two at a time, either in rhythmic unison or with a kind of call and response. Unless the solos are exposed, such as in the piano part, they are often backed by a virtual drumset consisting of percussive sounds made by the other instruments. A bass drum sound is created with deadstrokes on the marimba and by striking the body of the cello, a snare drum is created with clarinet multiphonics (playing more than one note at a time) and high marimba notes. Other sections just groove along, often with the marimbist playing a funky pattern using “marimshots” in the left hand (striking four notes at once, two with mallet heads and two with the shafts).
Press Quotes
“Review of a concert by the New York New Music Ensemble...
People who go to recitals like this one don’t necessarily expect to hear catchy advertising ready jingles rife with simplex melodies and harmonies. They want intellectual meat, creative powers working on a higher plane... It helps that the music they were playing, even the new works from the back end of the ‘90s, was worth the experience. A case in point is Robert Paterson’s Quintus, which started the evening off with a strong pulse from the piano that was embroidered by the fleet, sliding fingers of violinist Curtis Macomber and the clever, quirky lines played by clarinetist Jean Kopperud as the cello and marimba added commentary. The overall effect was of crystalline textures spiraling toward a goal that only appears logical at the last instant.”