Matthew Davidson

Violin, Viola, and Cello

Composer's Note:

While no Lyric Suite, this is my most ambitious composition to date, combining multiple musical cultures dating over the past 1,000 years. It is dedicated to my wife, Shayna.

The first movement owes something to the world of Janacek, and is even based upon a Czech folk tune (which one hears partially disguised at one point).

The second movement is a transcription of a Lithuanian Folk Melody, A-a-a-a mažulyte, which was transcribed from a compact disc of Lithuanian melodies (Lituanie - Le pays des chansons, issued on the "Cocora, Radio France" label, in 1997.)

The third movement is a relatively straight-forward presentation of the Czech folk tune used in the first movement, Hore Černy, initially as a canon. Then it is put into reverse.

The fourth movement is a direct transcription of a Quebecois folk melody as originally played in the 1920s by “Villeneuve and Bouchard,” a violin and accordion duo - later released on the 1985 vinyl LP album, "You Can Tell the World About This" (Morning Star Records). The rest of the movement is a mirror image of itself right back to the
very beginning.

The fifth movement only lasts around a minute, and is a setting of the medieval melody (anonymously written) of the same name. The last movement, Shir Ha-Shirim, is a toccata-like distortion of a medieval Jewish setting of a text from the Song of Songs, III / 1, “By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loved; I sought him, but I found him not.” The Song of Songs is a love-song from God to Israel and vice-versa and it is read at Passover. After a short reprise of the Hore Černy melody returns to the toccata, thereafter quietly dispersing.