We are excited to continue our collaboration with the New York Women Composers (NYWC). This month, we present a piece by Dr. Wendy Griffiths.
Dr. Wendy Griffiths. Photo courtesy Dr. Wendy Griffiths.
Bio:
Dr. Wendy Griffiths is a versatile composer whose works span chamber music, piano pieces, art songs, orchestral and choral works, dance scores, and opera. Her compositions have been performed in prestigious venues and series, including the Composer’s Concordance, the Yale-Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Washington Master Chorale, and internationally in Stockholm. Her opera The Quiet American was supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, and she has received grants from Meet the Composer and the American Music Center. Her music is available on Albany Records and SoundCloud.
Griffiths is a founding member of the new music ensemble Music Under Construction and also performs with her band, Changing Modes, as a keyboardist and vocalist. She holds a D.M.A. in music composition from the CUNY Graduate Center and teaches composition, piano, and theory at Mannes College of Music.
Featured Work: Minima, Memory and Mirage for Violin, Cello, and Piano
COMPOSITION DETAILS
- Title: Minima, Memory and Mirage
- Composer: Dr. Wendy Griffiths
- Year of Composition:
- Instrumentation: violin, cello, and piano
- Movements: 3
- Duration of Work: 6′ 50″
- Number of Measures: 197
- Number of pages: 21
- Tempo: Moderate to fast
- Difficulty Level: Professional
- Highest Position Reached: thumb
- Techniques Employed: Meter changes, harmonic glissandi, minimalism, programatic music
- Publisher: Self-published
- Where to Purchase the Score: Email the composer
- Cost of Score*: $10
Recordings
Program Notes
“This piece was written for The Mannes Trio. The title is from a poem called “Song of Degrees” by Paul Auster written about his experiences in the North African desert. I wrote the trio shortly after composing three cabaret songs for Phyllis Clark for which I set three Auster poems, including Song of Degrees. The piece conveys a spaciousness and sense of repetition. Musically there are references middle eastern music and blues music as well as quartal harmonies, particularly in the last movement.” – Dr. Wendy Griffiths
Performance Notes
“The title of this work is from a poem by Paul Auster about his experiences in North Africa. It explores solitude, repetition, and spaciousness. The first movement opens with a minimalist texture, which is interrupted by a shooting star idea that goes across the instruments. The second, memory, has a bluesy melody which morphs into a quartal harmonic motive which dovetails into the final movement building up energy which explodes in the end.” – Dr. Wendy Griffiths
Dr. Wendy Griffiths’s Other Works with a Prominent Cello Part
- Behind the Mirror for cello and piano
- String Quartet #1
- String Quartet #2
- Sextet
Links
A Collaboration with the New York Women Composers (NYWC)
The NYWC series at the Cello Museum was created to showcase its members who have composed various pieces for cello, informing cellists seeking new music to add to their repertoire, and helping listeners find new favorites. Many thanks to the NYWC for this wonderful collaboration.
Read other installments in the series here.
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