Glenn Stallcop

Two Violins

Composer's Note:

Wedding Duets was written in the spring of 1985 for the wedding of Bruce Wilkison and Lenore Lehr and was performed at their wedding reception. It is a light-hearted work for two friends and colleagues on a joyous occasion. Lenore and Bruce were both violinists in the Phoenix Symphony at the time, hence the duets. Their marriage has lasted and they have been blessed with three children and several grand children. I found the work to be too extended when I first heard it, and made several revisions later.

The work is minimalistic and, until computers allowed composers to preview their compositions before releasing them, I found minimalist works to be the most difficult to judge for length. Minimalist technique relies strongly on continually making small changes to the texture, but the change must be noticed or it is of no use. It must also not be so noticeable that it sounds like something completely different as this would change the whole aesthetic. It is a very fine line, but luckily making edits is usually quite easy as the texture is so similar.

These duets are studio duets, meaning are they written for the enjoyment of the players, and not necessarily meant to be performed in recital. The parts are deliberately constructed equally with lots of part crossing. They are also not too difficult, as they are meant to be read.