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- Hans Abrahamsen
Three Little Nocturnes (2005)
- Edition Wilhelm Hansen Copenhagen (World)
- str4tet, acn
- 9 min
- 21st June 2024, Haugesund Art Gallery, Haugesund, Norway
Programme Note
For String Quartet and Accordion
I. Andante amabile
II. Allegro appassionato
III. Langsam gehend, immer zögernd,
mit unsicheren, schleppenden Schritten
Three Little Nocturnes was commissioned by the Cikada Ensemble, with support from NOMUS, and written for Frode Haltli and the Cikada String Quartet.
In the first nocturne a slow, falling music emerges on an irregular pulse, filled with high harmonics in the strings. The second nocturne is fast and unrestful music, with a lot of passion, which in a moment runs into a glimpse of a tango. In this movement the accordion is employed in its traditional fashion, using the chord bass, with its “oom-pah-pah” standard chords. The third nocturne is again slow, indeed very slow, and it has German tempo and expression markings. The piece ends with a lullaby in the accordion, played with an unusual technique, imitating the string portato. This is accompanied by high harmonics in the strings, while the first violin slowly and softly plays a melody from the second nocturne.
Hans Abrahamsen
I. Andante amabile
II. Allegro appassionato
III. Langsam gehend, immer zögernd,
mit unsicheren, schleppenden Schritten
Three Little Nocturnes was commissioned by the Cikada Ensemble, with support from NOMUS, and written for Frode Haltli and the Cikada String Quartet.
In the first nocturne a slow, falling music emerges on an irregular pulse, filled with high harmonics in the strings. The second nocturne is fast and unrestful music, with a lot of passion, which in a moment runs into a glimpse of a tango. In this movement the accordion is employed in its traditional fashion, using the chord bass, with its “oom-pah-pah” standard chords. The third nocturne is again slow, indeed very slow, and it has German tempo and expression markings. The piece ends with a lullaby in the accordion, played with an unusual technique, imitating the string portato. This is accompanied by high harmonics in the strings, while the first violin slowly and softly plays a melody from the second nocturne.
Hans Abrahamsen