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

US Premiere of John Casken's That Subtle Knot with Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra

May. 04, 2015

US Premiere of John Casken's <em>That Subtle Knot</em> with Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra

On May 7, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra gives the US premiere of John Casken’s That Subtle Knot. The work, a double concerto for violin and viola, draws inspiration from John Donne’s poem The Ecstasy. Thomas Zehetmair joins the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra as both conductor and violin soloist alongside his wife Ruth Killius on viola. Casken writes of the piece:

The title comes from a poem by John Donne, The Ecstasy, in which two lovers sit, their hands entwined and ‘did thread/Our eyes, upon one double string’. This image seemed perfect for my double concerto. The relationship develops between the solo instruments through the exploration of independent lines, lines shared, lines in opposition, always with a sense of being drawn together with one purpose. The dialogue is in the spirit of chamber music, the orchestra taking up fragments of the solo lines, or sustaining notes, and in the faster passages acting as an equal force, driving the music forward.

Zehetmair and Killius, who co-commissioned the work along with The Sage Gateshead, also performed as soloists in the world premiere performance last summer in Gateshead, England. The US premiere takes place at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Apple Valley, Minnesota. Following the May 7 premiere, Zehetmair, Killius, and the orchestra perform the work on each of the next three days at different churches in Minneapolis and Saint Paul.

For more information on the US premiere, please visit thespco.org

More information on John Casken is available at schott-music.com

John Casken
That Subtle Knot (2012-2013)
double concerto for violin, viola and orchestra
2(2.pic).2.2(2.bcl).2(2.cbsn)-2.2.0.0-timp(b.d)-str
25’

News