guitar
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Boosey & Hawkes
As in many of my works that reflect a double meaning in their titles, Broken Slurs implies more than the obvious interruption of lines.
Written especially for Lily Afshar, my initial idea occurred during a conversation we had concerning life – a perennial discourse! Interspersed in our revelations were thoughts pertaining to the guitar and the type of piece I would eventually write. Broken Slurs, the result of our mutual, overlapping ideas, relates to both concept and content of this work.
Although written in two parts one should hear this work as a continuous movement – the first part being meditative and intimate, the second more impersonal and removed. Also, there is contrast between the static quality of the first section and the perpetual motion of the second, with its continually ascending chromatic lines that ultimately resolve in repetition, but without resolution.
All of the above not only relates to the technical aspects of the piece, but to the conversation Lily and I had prior to beginning my work, as well. Broken Slurs, should it be successful in its content, is a miniature, a brief episode in life that combines feeling, technical skill, and virtuosity.
Barbara Kolb, October 2001
Reproduction Rights
This programme note can be reproduced free of charge in concert programmes with a credit to the composer