Thom Ritter George

FLUTE QUARTET, CN 117 (1962)
 

PROGRAM NOTES

 

Thom Ritter George's FLUTE QUARTET is one of the composer's lighter chamber music compositions and was written in 1962.  At that time, the composer was experimenting with bitonal music.  The happy opening movement (Allegro moderato) pits a melody in D Major against accompanying figures in C Major.  The music is in sonata-allegro form.  The second movement (Adagio) is based on a reflective melody in G minor.  The theme of the final movement (Rondo: Tempo di valse) again employs bitonality, this time an A minor melody with a D Major accompaniment.  The central pesante section enhances the music's dance like character.

The FLUTE QUARTET is dedicated to Susan Nancy Berman, a flutist who often joined the composer and his friends during chamber music sessions during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

The first public performance of the FLUTE QUARTET was given on November 8, 1962 in Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York.  The artists were all from the chamber music class of John Celentano: Lynne Priest, flute; Lily Soong, violin; Lee Lane, viola; and Karen Andre, violoncello.  Three days later on November 11, 1962, the same players performed the work again on an Ensemble Concert sponsored by The Arts Committee of the River Campus of the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York.

(TRGcm:2006.11.23)