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Compositions *** |
Discourse of Goatherds
year
1989
duration
7 minutes
instrumentation
Solo bass (or tenor) trombone
commission
Tom Everett
première
April 20, 1989, Northeastern University, Boston, Eli Guilford, bass trombone
movements
Amorous
Boisterous
program notes
The interesting aspect of this piece is that Fine created an actual discourse. The first section, labeled “Amorous,” is a collection of phrases moving rather slowly in quarter- and half-notes that are later fragmented and juxtaposed in the second section’s “Boisterous,” which consists of fast moving passages of eighth- and sixteenth-notes forming short phrases and figures that are interrupted frequently by passages from the previous section, creating the impression of two goatherds having a lively conversation.
–Heidi Von Gunden, The Music of Vivian Fine, Scarecrow Press, 1999