SCSIMONMUSIC

This 3-part piece began with the opening violin phrase. This is unusual in that most of my work does not start with the beginning.

It is intended to express the sense of a ‘Hopeful Americana’, strongly influenced by the mid-20th Century work of Aaron Copland, and in the middle sections by the late-20th Century and contemporary work of Philip Glass; two of the greatest American composers.

It is written for a variation on the classical European string quartet with five instead of four instruments: Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass 1, and Bass 2. Compared to the classical string quartet, it is bigger and more bottom heavy; a contemporary American String Quintet.

We are ALL Children of the Huddled Masses. The phrase is from ‘The New Colossus’ by poet Emma Lazarus: ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.’

My Grandparents immigrated to this country as children through Ellis Island, under the watch of the Statue of Liberty.

Some sections are meant to convey an ‘idyllic’ America with its expansive landscapes, social and civic idealism; but a culture that has its origins almost exclusively in western European antecedents. Where are the Black, Hispanic, Southern and Eastern European, Asian and Native American influences? These influences are present in the middle sections before the initial themes repeat with more complex thematic and harmonic variations.

One goal was to create a more complex Americana that incorporates and celebrates this diversity that comprises contemporary America while still retaining the form of this American version of the string quartet.

The music is intended to have a patriotic sensibility that can be reclaimed by all the children of the huddled masses