Violin 3.0
For 3 Violins
6 minutes
Premiered by Francesca Anderegg, Karen VanAcker and Lindsie Katz at Sundin Music Hall in St. Paul, MN. April, 2014.
Other performances at the Interlochen Arts Camp in the summer of 2014.
Program Notes:
I wrote Violin 3.0 in the spring of 2014 for my wife Francesca Anderegg to perform with two of her advanced students. What began as a pedagogical piece quickly turned into a more serious one. The background of the piece involves many elements: first, my affinity for the violin, as a former player and serious student of the instrument. Second, I was interested in the idea of writing for many violinists at the same time: this texture can fool the ear into believing that there is only one giant instrument, and that is exactly the image I wanted to convey.
The three violins play much of the same material in the same register, but are weaving in and out of each other's ways. The effect is dizzying and fascinating. The way in which the lines interact with each other reminded me of computer circuitry. I wondered, what would the violin sound like if it had been invented in the computer era? And what would a mega-version of that violin sound like? This piece is my attempt to answer that question.