apophenia by david toub
I wrote this piece at the request of Glenn Freeman, who suggested the title "for philip glass" and wanted an extended work for string quartet lasting at least one hour. In the end, it actually lasts about two hours, and is dedicated to my son Isaac. The work has nothing to do with Philip Glass, and I have since renamed it "apophenia." The term “apophenia” refers to a tendency to find connections among unrelated or random objects. The work is generally very quiet throughout, with few dynamic changes and minimal markings of any kind. There are two sections in which I wanted to use the strings in a percussive fashion, playing col legno (with the wooden back of the bow) throughout. I realized that we generally think of strings as melodic instruments, and thought it would be interesting to use them like a percussion battery, focusing on the rhythmic elements. apophenia actually contains some serial elements, even some 12-tone rows, but this is not a pervasive element of the music, which is generally repetitive and quiet.
Tracklist
| 1. | apophenia | 118:17 |
Credits
License
CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. See the Creative Commons website for details.
I'm a Philadelphia-area composer who writes minimalist music, with a few works ranging from 2 hours to more than 4 hours. Several of my works have been commercially recorded, including two CDs by the Belgian pianist Stephane Ginsburgh for both the World Edition and Sub Rosa labels. Performances have taken place in several countries, including the US, France, Belgium, Brazil, Ukraine and Japan.