4 players: string quartet - Exquisite Corpse

This string quartet is organized in four sections, taking its form and title from the game popularized by Surrealists in the 1920s. In this game (as you probably know), a drawing of a person or creature would be assembled piece-by-piece by several artists, who would each draw a different section of the form—foot, waist, body, head—without seeing the contributions of the others until the very end, when the full “exquisite corpse” would be revealed.

In this particular exquisite corpse, I began by writing a short fugue, which eventually became the final two minutes of the piece. Then I refracted that material across each section, stylizing and recomposing it so each quadrant had a distinct identity and feeling, while still sharing the same bones as the others. Each quadrant loosely corresponds to a different player in the quartet who instigates the action for that section of the piece. The first section (“foot”) is driven by the cello, the second (“waist”) by the viola, the third (“body”) by the second violin, and the fourth (“head”) by the first violin.

Having (very happily) worked with ADAM Quartet a few times before, I’m always struck by how seamlessly each member of the group contributes to the overall sound, supporting and listening to each other while also maintaining their own individual musical identities. This new work lends itself to a vision of the string quartet as a functioning whole, comprised of unique voices that add up to an exquisite creature greater than the sum of its parts.

The “exquisite corpse” idea has a second resonance here as well. This piece was commissioned as part of ADAM Quartet’s first recorded album. As they were selecting the pieces they wanted to record, the group had the idea of piecing together some of their favorite movements from across their repertoire, both old and new, to create an album- length work that demonstrated their own identity as an ensemble. Mine was written as the fourth and final "movement" in this non-traditional string quartet: an exquisite corpse within an exquisite corpse.