European American Music Distributors Company is a member of the Schott Music Group

Carol Wincenc, Escher Quartet, and Houston Chamber Choir Premiere New Works by Pierre Jalbert

Nov. 01, 2019

Carol Wincenc, Escher Quartet, and Houston Chamber Choir Premiere New Works by Pierre Jalbert

On November 12, Carol Wincenc and the Escher String Quartet perform the world premiere of Pierre Jalbert's Air in Motion at The Morgan Library in New York. The composer describes the work:

"Air in Motion, for flute and string quartet, is in four contrasting movements. The first movement is a short, fast, rhythmic prelude where the strings and flute echo each other’s changing rhythmic pulse (like mini metric modulations that turn on a dime). The second movement is a canon on 50 notes (in honor of Carol’s 50th anniversary season). The canon begins as a repeating ascending pattern which gradually changes over time. The same canon appears later in slow motion and in different guises throughout the piece. The third movement is an air, almost chant-like, with slowly evolving resonances and frozen time. The fourth movement is pulse-oriented, with rhythmic and imitative motives passed between strings and flute, with slower interruptive events that always lead back to the rhythmic energy of the opening."


On November 16, the Houston Chamber Choir, led by Robert Simpson, premieres Pierre Jalbert's Desert Places at the South Main Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. Jalbert discusses Desert Places: 

"This cycle of five contrasting songs takes its title from the poem of Robert Frost. The various texts in the piece reference both inner space and outer space, both within oneself and in interstellar space. The first song speaks of places of emptiness and fear, but also of home. The second song, with a text by Sappho, references the lovely moon and stars. The third song, with a text by Whitman taken from “On the Beach at Night Alone”, uses the repeated word “all” to present a sense of the infinite. The fourth song, with a text by William Cullen Bryant, is a fast thrill ride beginning with the words, “Away, away!”. The cycle ends with a meditation on the words “Lux Aeterna”.


Listen to Pierre Jalbert's String Theory (2016):

(String Theory/Pierre Jalbert/Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra)

To learn more about Pierre Jalbert, visit: schott-music.com. 

Pierre Jalbert
Air in Motion (2019)
for flute and string quartet
16'

Desert Places (2019)
for choir
12'

News