Arrhythmia

What does Mahler have to do with a string quartet written in 2012? It may be the result of an “anything goes” attitude on my part that I base a new string quartet on the first movement of Mahler’s ninth symphony.

The melodic quotations ensure a clear connection to Mahler’s symphony, for those who know the work well, but in the end they amount to nothing more than winks. The more meaningful influences come in roundabout ways, such as thinking about how the music works over the course of a piece rather than what it sounds like at any given moment.

Arrhythmia continues my work re-imagining the music of composers from earlier generations. In 2011, I wrote a piece for 11 musicians that re-imagined Schoenberg’s orchestral work Farben, extracting material and concepts to ask myself what Schoenberg might have written if he were composing Farben today.

If nothing else, this process has led me to explore pathways in my music that I would not otherwise. Perhaps this is a positive way to digest the canon of music history — re-imagining rather than rejecting, playing with history rather than feeling burdened by its weight.

Arrhythmia was composed by Taylor Brook for the American Composers Forum 2012 Finale National Composition Contest, a partnership between the American Composers Forum and JACK Quartet. This program is made possible with funding provided by MakeMusic, Inc. Arrhythmia was composed for JACK Quartet.