Symphony for String Quartet and Forest
Friday 1 July, 3.00pm
Timber Festival, The National Forest
Jacob Fitzgerald - Composer
Graham Oppenheimer - Conductor
Performers:
Kyan String Quartet
Belmont Primary School
Broom Leys Primary School
Dame Catherine Harpur's School
Melbourne Junior School
Springfield Junior School
Welcome to Symphony for String Quartet and Forest. Project String Quartet (PSQ) and the Kyan Quartet are delighted to be performing for you alongside over 180 incredible students from 5 schools at Timber Festival, in the National Forest! Today’s concert is a performance of a newly written work, composed specifically for this project, by Jacob Fitzgerald for string quartet and found objects from the forest such as twigs, branches, roots and leaves.
This project, supported by the National Forest, brought together students from across Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Staffordshire to understand more about nature, trees and wood that surrounds their local area, and its connection to the instruments of the string quartet and classical music. As part of the project, PSQ have visited each school, presenting to over 500 students in musical sessions that explored the history of the ensemble’s instruments and the materials that make them, providing an insight into the relationship between the string quartet and music with the forest and natural world that surrounds us.
Today’s group of students also took part in a series of performance workshops, working directly with the Kyan Quartet to perform the newly composed work and explore the sounds of the forest by rustling, hitting and scraping their found forest instruments.
The Sound of the Trees
Poem by Robert Frost, 1974 – 1963
I wonder about the trees. Why do we wish to bear Forever the noise of these More than another noise
So close to our dwelling place? We suffer them by the day
Till we lose all measure of pace, And fixity in our joys,
And acquire a listening air. They are that that talks of going But never gets away;
And that talks no less for knowing,
As it grows wiser and older, That now it means to stay.
My feet tug at the floor
And my head sways to my shoulder Sometimes when I watch trees sway, From the window or the door.
I shall set forth for somewhere,
I shall make the reckless choice Some day when they are in voice And tossing so as to scare
The white clouds over them on.
I shall have less to say,
But I shall be gone.
Programme Note
Written by Jacob Fitzgerald
When approached by Graham Oppenheimer about this commission I was instantly drawn in. The image of a string quartet in a wooded forest clearing, surrounded by 180 school children ‘playing the forest’ was a striking one and firmly planted immediately in my mind’s eye.
As the piece began to take shape, I found myself drawing on material and inspiration from all sorts of places. Quotations of some of natures’ greatest features in the Classical canon can be spotted, littered throughout, including Haydn’s Frog, Lark, Bird and Rider quartets, Vivaldi’s Goldfinch and elements drawn from Bartók’s insect music. Grid references of some of The National Forest’s key landmarks have also been translated into pitch series and used for much of the melodic material, including the National Memorial Arboretum and the Forestry Centre at Rosliston.
The actual structure of Symphony for String Quartet and Forest is much like a symphony, with four movements that map out the structure of a tree, taking us on a journey upwards, starting at the Roots, then Trunk and Branches, finishing with the more delicate, florid texture of the Leaves.
The musical material for the schools taking part in this project consists of a series of graphic and text scores using ideas pioneered by the likes of Stockhausen, Feldman and Cage in the 1920s and 30s. These scores draw on the children’s lack of inhibitions at ages 9, 10 and 11 and push them to embrace really very contemporary artistic ideas, but through language and explanation that is accessible and not overly-convoluted!
Another thread running through the piece is lines taken from Robert Frost’s beautiful poem The Sound of Trees, a celebration but also reflection of new growth coming from the old – the natural cycle of the forest – as well as a exploration into the sonic imagery of trees.
