Suite for Strings | Michael Fine - Wise Music Classical

‘Heading North’, ‘Heading South’, ‘Finding Home’... a personal travelogue beginning with a brief overture whose restless beginning expresses some of the composer's wanderlust.

Duration17 min

CategoryString Orchestra

Composer
Michael Fine

Performances
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Programme Note

Suite for Strings
This Suite was my first attempt to compose for orchestra and the first of my compositions which I heard performed in concert. Its four movements are a personal travelogue beginning with a brief overture whose restless beginning expresses some of my wanderlust. ‘Heading North’ had its creative inception with my improvising its opening phrases on a piano in Seoul. The orchestra had been rehearsing the music of one the great Scandinavian composers. This influenced my reflections as I noodled on the piano and the subsequent movement for string orchestra. ‘Heading South’ is a happy retreat to warmer musical climes while the return home in the last movement - ‘Finding Home’ - finds a contented traveler reminiscing on the voyage. It ends simply with the cello saying ‘I’m home’ via a return to C major.