Dan Sedgwick (b. 1981)
Theme and Variations for String Quartet (2009, rev. 2016)
Dan Sedgwick is a composer and pianist living in Somerville, MA. Nurtured by Burncoat High School’s ear-opening music department in Worcester, MA, Dan studied music at Harvard and then Rice University, graduating with a doctorate in composition in 2009. His current and recent composition projects include theatrical chamber music interwoven with spoken text (for the Dilijan Chamber Music Series of L.A. and the Sonad Peace Project of NH), an assortment of rounds in experimental tunings for voices and instruments, and a sonata for violin and piano (for violinist Marji Gere). For the last seven years, Dan worked as a teaching assistant for the Harvard Music Department, teaching music theory, analysis, composition, keyboard skills, and acoustics.
His note for the Theme and Variations follows:
This work offers nine variations on a chromatic harmonic pattern; these are framed by a theme in which the pattern appears in its most distilled form. The variations range from gentle and whimsical to stark and serious to wild and virtuosic, all with a spirit of fervent romantic idealism drawing inspiration from music of Olivier Messiaen, Ben Johnston, Kelley Polar, and J.S. Bach. One unusual concern in the composition of this piece was flexibility in tuning: the quartet can be played in twelve-tone equal temperament, five-limit just intonation, or an intuitive compromise somewhere in between.
The quartet was commissioned by Leonard Matczynski and the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, and was premiered by the Apple Hill String Quartet in Nelson, NH in 2009. The version you will hear tonight was newly revised for this performance.
Reproduction Rights: This program note may be reproduced free of charge in concert programs with a credit to the author.