Prufrock Quintet
This three movement piece was composed in my Freshman year at UCSB for Flute, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Harp. I was 19 years old at the time. The inspiration for the piece was T.S. Eliot’s poetic masterpiece, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. The three movements are titled after lines of the poem: "Talking of Michelangelo", "...Do I Dare?", and "'Til Human Voices Wake Us".
The "Lovesong" is primarily concerned with the internal and irregular musings of the narrator, who lived in the early 1900’s. The apparently random thoughts of the narrator take place in a time period that is not fixed and the transitions between them are not logical, but rather psychological. Eliot’s style thus makes it difficult to know what is literal and what is symbolic. Predominately, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is about a sexually frustrated middle-aged man who wants to express something but is afraid to do so. Finally, he chooses not to say anything at all, but bottles his unspoken desires in a haze of self-doubt.
This Quintet was composed to reflect the artistic style and time in which Eliot wrote. The tonal, yet not-so-tonal interplay of melodies and textures provides a sonic couch with which to settle into late Victorian era ambivalence. Repetition, with changes in articulation throughout the movements, reflects the many circular musings of the Prufrock character. Ultimately, this Quintet is intended to serve as a soundtrack to Prufrock’s intensely insular universe.
This recording was made sometime around 1975. The performers were:
Flute - Patti Carbon
Violin - Jane Hemenway
Viola - Melinda Raynes
Cello - Clovice A. Lewis, Jr.
Harp - Barbara Imhoff
The "Lovesong" is primarily concerned with the internal and irregular musings of the narrator, who lived in the early 1900’s. The apparently random thoughts of the narrator take place in a time period that is not fixed and the transitions between them are not logical, but rather psychological. Eliot’s style thus makes it difficult to know what is literal and what is symbolic. Predominately, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is about a sexually frustrated middle-aged man who wants to express something but is afraid to do so. Finally, he chooses not to say anything at all, but bottles his unspoken desires in a haze of self-doubt.
This Quintet was composed to reflect the artistic style and time in which Eliot wrote. The tonal, yet not-so-tonal interplay of melodies and textures provides a sonic couch with which to settle into late Victorian era ambivalence. Repetition, with changes in articulation throughout the movements, reflects the many circular musings of the Prufrock character. Ultimately, this Quintet is intended to serve as a soundtrack to Prufrock’s intensely insular universe.
This recording was made sometime around 1975. The performers were:
Flute - Patti Carbon
Violin - Jane Hemenway
Viola - Melinda Raynes
Cello - Clovice A. Lewis, Jr.
Harp - Barbara Imhoff
Tonality - 50%
Difficulty - Professional
Difficulty - Professional