commentary to opus 69a | |
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Epigrams
for Strings, op. 69a (1978)![]() I.
Moderato III.
Allegro con brio IV.
Andante
Orchestra: 2.2.2.1 First
performance: August 11, 1979, Wies bei Steingaden, Landvolkshochschule Duration: 11 Minutes Publisher: C.F. Peters Musikverlag EP 8643 (score and orchestral material are available for purchase!)
Video: Works by Hummel on youtube
The Epigrams for Strings, op. 69a, were composed in the 1978 for a youth string orchestra. Easily perceived pictures in sound in contrasting movements are put together with simple means. Pulsating repeated notes, short motifs, layers of thirds, fourths and fifths as well as directly understandable melodic sequences in tonally free space are characteristic for these pieces. They appeal immediately to player and listener alike. Bertold Hummel
Press Bertold
Hummel's Epigrams are five unpretentious but sharply characterised miniatures,
complete in themselves, combining at the same time constructivism and sensuous
espressivo. In naturally flowing cycles, tension is built up and released. The
whole style and the technical demands remain traditional, the musical statement
is clear and unambiguous, sometimes almost didactic - e.g. in the introduction
to the Fugato on B-A-C-H (German notation for B-flat : A : C : H).
Saale-Zeitung, 5th September, 1995 This highly sensitive music, demanding with its finely differentiated planes of tone colour a high level of concentration and stable tone production, was the climax of the programme. |
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