Walter Piston (1894-1976)
Quintet for Flute and String Quartet (1942)
Walter Piston passed most of his life in New England: he was born in Rockland, Maine in 1894 and died in Belmont, Massachusetts in 1976. In between, he taught at Harvard from 1926 until 1960, where his students included Leonard Bernstein, Elliott Carter, Arthur Berger, and Frederic Rzewski. During his lifetime, he was highly regarded as a composer, recognized with two Pulitzer Prizes in music (in 1947 and 1961, respectively) and commissions from leading orchestras and foundations. Today, though, Piston is perhaps best known as an author. His treatise on harmony was one of the most significant 20th-century contributions to the field and his text on orchestration remains formidable, perhaps only surpassed in recent years by that of his former student, Samuel Adler.
Piston wrote the Quintet for Flute and String Quartet in 1942. Cast in four movements, it is a piece that well demonstrates Aaron Copland’s observation about Piston being “one of the most expert craftsmen American music can boast.” It is filled with Piston’s patented acerbic lyricism, touches of expressive chromaticism, and always an eye towards the contrapuntal interaction of the five musicians.
The outer movements are very traditional in mood, presenting a succession of serious musical ideas in turn and featuring a strong balance between the parts: listen, for instance, to how Piston treats the flute not so much as a soloist among strings but as an instrument that opens up unique textural opportunities for this particular ensemble.
Piston began the slow, second movement with a highly expressive passage for strings alone that builds from the cello up. Eventually the flute joins in and the music builds to a dance-like middle section. A short cadenza for the solo flute brings a return of the opening material and the movement concludes soberly.
Many mid-20th century composers seemed to take a special interest in scherzos (or, more accurately, in movements that function as scherzos, even if they don’t necessarily follow the correct formal pattern). Piston was not immune to this syndrome, as the short, ecstatic third movement of the Quintet demonstrates. This is remarkable music: written for muted strings and flute, it seems to channel the odd couple of Mendelssohn and Bartók at once, simultaneously lithe and hard-edged.
The finale returns to the serious mindset of the opening movements. After a brusque introduction, the flute takes the lead with an angular melody upon which the strings comment and, later, develop. A subdued second theme emerges, but this is music of high energy and rhythmic propulsion that builds inevitably to its conclusion.
© Jonathan Blumhofer
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