borromean rings

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BORROEMAN RINGS (2010) Purchase Online

Premiere: August 29, 2010 by the Borromeo String Quartet with Judith Gordon, piano
Duration: 20'

Instrumentation: 2 Violins, Viola, ‘Cello, Piano

Commissioned by the Cheswatyr Foundation

Program Note:

A key element in the emotional and structural world of my piano quintet is the idea of the Borromean Rings – a chain of rings in which all rings are connected as a unit, but in which no two individual rings are connected. Thus, if one link in the chain is broken, the entire structure crumbles. The metaphor of mutually dependent connectedness, of a chain of relationships in which every nodal point has equal importance in maintaining the survival and integrity of the whole, has powerful musical and spiritual implications. Fundamental to our experience of the world – and of music – is the paradox of the simultaneous importance of unity and multiplicity, of the individual and the community, of the simplest musical idea and the structure in which it resides. Borromean Rings explores this paradox with sensitivity to the fragile connections that make life and music sustainable and rewarding, and which generate the most fundamental meanings of life.

– James Matheson