String Sextet (Waterhouse)

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String Sextet op. 1
by Graham Waterhouse
GW60 String Sextet.jpg
Waterhouse (r.) and colleagues after a performance at the All on 5 November 2022
Opus 1
Period contemporary
Composed1979, 2013
Movements4
Premiere
DateFebruary 9, 2014
Location Gasteig, Munich

The String Sextet, Op. 1, is a string sextet in four movements by Graham Waterhouse. While the composer began the work as one movement in 1979, he completed it in four movements in 2013. The completed version was first performed at the Gasteig in Munich on 9 February 2014.

Contents

History

While still at Highgate School, Waterhouse intended to compose a string sextet, following models such as the first String Sextet by Brahms. He composed one movement which was performed for a school music competition. It was the first work he found worthy of an opus number. [1] The Boulez pupil and scholar Susan Bradshaw commented: "while searching for an independent voice, it still didn't sound like anyone else". [1]

A second movement was begun in 1983 as part of university studies in fugue. The third movement was conceived on a trip to Czechoslovakia and Poland in the mid-1980s. The fourth movement was begun at the same time and is based on a theme from Macedonia. Both the third and the fourth movement were completed in 2013, 34 years after the beginning of the work. [2] : 7–8 

Structure and music

The work for two violins, two violas and two cellos is in four movements: [2] : 4–5 

  1. Allegro con anima
  2. Fugue – Adagio fanatico
  3. Scherzo – Allegro vivace
  4. Moderato (basato su ricordi di un tema macedone)

The first movement is tonal music in sonata form, reminiscent of the sextets by Johannes Brahms. [3] The second movement, marked "Adagio fanatico", is a fugue which follows Baroque forms but uses a "slightly abrasive, modal harmonic language". [2] : 7–8  It features a rhythmic ostinato. In the Scherzo, the strings play layered ("geschichtet"). The fial movement is domiated by a Macedonian folksong with characteristic rhythms. From the beginning, the work has clear contours and skilful sextet sound. [3]

Performances

After the first performance at Highgate school, the first movement was performed again at chamber concert at Cambridge University in 1982. [1] The completed version was first performed at the Gasteig in Munich on 9 February 2014 in a program of chamber music by Mozart and Waterhouse, with the members of the Munich Philharmonic and the composer as the cellist. [4] The UK premiere was played on 1 May 2016 as part of the Whittall Barn Concert Series by the Anern Trio and the Waterhouse Trio, along with the string trios Zeichenstaub and Epitaphium . [5] [6] The sextet was notably played as part of GW60, a concert on 5 November 2022 at the Allerheiligen-Hofkirche in Munich to celebrate the composer's 60th birthday. [2] : 4  [7] The performers were David Frühwirth, Clément Courtin, Konstantin Sellheim, Valentin Eichler, Katerina Giannitsioti and the composer. [2] : 5 

In preparation for publication by Schott Music, Waterhouse then dedicated the composition to his mother, Elisabeth Waterhouse, saying that her lifelong dedication to chamber music, especially her pioneering work at the Summer Schools from the mid-1970s, was a major inspiration for the work. [2] : 8 

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graham Waterhouse</span> English composer (born 1962)

Graham Waterhouse is an English composer and cellist who specializes in chamber music. He has composed a cello concerto, Three Pieces for Solo Cello and Variations for Cello Solo for his own instrument, and string quartets and compositions that juxtapose a quartet with a solo instrument, including Piccolo Quintet, Bassoon Quintet and the piano quintet Rhapsodie Macabre. He has set poetry for speaking voice and cello, such as Der Handschuh, and has written song cycles. His compositions reflect the individual capacity and character of players and instruments, from the piccolo to the contrabassoon.

<i>Piccolo Quintet</i> Quintet op. 26 of Graham Waterhouse

Piccolo Quintet is short for the Quintet op. 26 of Graham Waterhouse, composed in 1989 for piccolo and string quartet and published by Zimmermann in 2002 as Quintet for piccolo, 2 violins, viola and violoncello.

<i>Bassoon Quintet</i> (Waterhouse)

The Bassoon Quintet is a quintet by Graham Waterhouse, composed in 2003 for bassoon and string quartet.

<i>Epitaphium</i> (Waterhouse)

Epitaphium is a composition for string trio by Graham Waterhouse. In 2007, after the death of his father William Waterhouse, he composed Epitaphium in Memoriam W.R.W. as a tribute to his memory.

<i>Chinese Whispers</i> (Waterhouse)

Chinese Whispers is a composition for string quartet in three movements by Graham Waterhouse. Premiered in 2010, it combines elements from the music of China with composition techniques of Western classical music. Similar to the children's game, phrases change as they pass from part to part. The work was awarded the "BCMS Composition Prize" of the Birmingham Chamber Music Society in 2011.

<i>Rhapsodie Macabre</i> Piano quintet by Graham Waterhouse

Rhapsodie Macabre is a composition for piano and string quartet in one movement by Graham Waterhouse, written in 2011 as a homage to Franz Liszt. It was first performed at a Liszt festival of the Gasteig, Munich, with the composer playing the cello part.

<i>Zeichenstaub</i>

Zeichenstaub is a composition for string trio in four movements by Graham Waterhouse, written in 2010. It was first performed in Arnstadt, Germany, on 18 September 2010, with the composer playing the cello part.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">String quartets (Waterhouse)</span>

Graham Waterhouse, cellist and composer especially of chamber music, has written a number of works for string quartet, three major works in several movements, several smaller works and compositions for a solo instrument and string quartet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Song cycles (Waterhouse)</span> Song cycles by Waterhouse

Graham Waterhouse, cellist and composer especially of chamber music, has written a number of song cycles. As a cellist, he has used string instruments or a Pierrot ensemble instead of the typical piano to accompany a singer. In 2003 he composed a first cycle of songs based on late poems by Friedrich Hölderlin. In 2016, he set nursery rhymes, excerpts from James Joyce, and texts by Shakespeare. In 2017, he wrote settings of poems by Irish female writers, and in 2022 a cycle of Buddhist texts for mezzo-soprano, cello and piano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viola Sonata (Waterhouse)</span>

The Viola Sonata by Graham Waterhouse, entitled Sonata ebraica, was written in 2012 and 2013, and premiered in Munich in 2013. It was recorded in 2015 by Hana Gubenko and Timon Altwegg who commissioned and premiered it.

<i>Incantations</i> (Waterhouse)

Incantations, subtitled Concerto da camera, is a composition for piano and ensemble by Graham Waterhouse, composed in 2015 and first performed in Birmingham.

<i>Skylla and Charybdis</i> (Waterhouse) Piano quartet by Graham Waterhouse

Skylla and Charybdis is a 2014 composition for piano quartet by Graham Waterhouse, played in four movements without a break. The title refers to Scylla and Charybdis, two sea monsters from Greek mythology. In performances in German-speaking countries, it has also appeared in English surroundings as Between Scylla and Charybdis.

<i>Praeludium</i> (Waterhouse)

Praeludium (Prelude), Op. 32, is a piece for piano by Graham Waterhouse, composed in 1992 and published by Lienau in 2002. The virtuoso composition has been played in concert internationally, and was recorded.

<i>Concentricities</i> Piano trio by Graham Waterhouse

Concentricities is a piano trio by Graham Waterhouse composed in 2019 for clarinet, cello and piano. It was premiered, with the composer as the cellist, at the Gasteig in Munich the same year. It was published by Schott Music.

Elisabeth Waterhouse is an English pianist and music pedagogue. She founded the National Chamber Music Course, a summer school for young string players, in 1974, and has managed it since. She is the widow of the bassoonist and musicologist William Waterhouse.

<i>Alchymic Quartet</i> 2022 string quartet by Graham Waterhouse

Alchymic Quartet is a string quartet by Graham Waterhouse composed in 2022, inspired by chemical experiments of his teacher Andrew Szydlo at Highgate School. It was premiered in Gilching and Munich, in celebration of the composer's 60th birthday, with Szydlo attending and performing.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Sextet". Graham Waterhouse. 2013. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "GW60 – Festkonzert" (PDF). Graham Waterhouse (in German). 2022. pp. 4, 11. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  3. 1 2 Blaumeiser, Martin (February 2023). "Standing Ovations in der Allerheiligen-Hofkirche". Neue Musikzeitung (in German). Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  4. ↑ "Kammermusik von Mozart und Waterhouse". Gasteig. 2014. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  5. ↑ "1 MAY 2016 @ 5pm / Whittall Barn Concert Series / w/ Waterhouse String Trio". Anern Trio. 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  6. ↑ "Sextet & Trio Concert in Gloucestershire / featuring Anern Trio + Waterhouse Trio". Lisa Ueda. 2016. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
  7. ↑ "Pinnwand – Veranstaltungen / Projekte /GW60" (in German). Munich Tonkünstlerverband  [ de ]. November 2022. Retrieved 16 December 2022.

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