A Tune Beyond | for violin, viola and guitar by Frank A. Wallace
for violin, viola and guitar; PARTS INCLUDED
SUGGESTED DONATION: #10.00
Duration: 7 minutes; 8 pages
Instrumentation: violin, viola and guitar
Difficulty level: Moderate technically
Written: December, 2013
Commissioned by: the Hartt School of Music Guitar Department at the University of Hartford, CT with assistance from the Augustine Foundation
World premiere: April 12, 2014 at the Hartt School, Hartford, CT by Phenix Enemble
All Gyre compositions are ASCAP
Copyright ©2014 Frank A. Wallace
Cover photography and design by Nancy Knowles
All rights reserved.
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A Tune Beyond was written for Phenix Ensemble: Richard Provost, guitar; Anton Miller, violin; Rita Porfiris, viola. The three make for a unique group, since a violin, viola and guitar are rarely combined to form a trio. Miller has performed at New York’s elite Carnegie Hall. He was the first to perform in Xiogang Ye’s “Last Paradise” in Beijing, China, an event that was broadcasted across Asia, and was also sold on CD. Miller has also toured in Asia, Brazil, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, England and China. He is currently a professor at New York University Steinhardt. Porfiris has performed with renowned orchestras such as the Orquesta Filarmonica de la Ciudad de Mexico, the New World Symphony and the Houston Symphony. Currently she is working as the Assistant Professor of Viola at the Hartt School, the performance art school within the University of Hartford in Connecticut. Provost’s career consisted of a solo performance at Longdon’s Wigmore Hall, as well as performances across the United States, Great Britain and Germany. Provost also works at The Hartt School as Founder and chairman of the guitar department and according to Provost’s biography provided by The Hartt School, he is “regarded as one of the country’s leading guitar pedagogues.”
A Tune Beyond
Eight works composed by Frank A. Wallace in winter 2014 comprise As It Could Be, a chamber suite commissioned by and dedicated to the Hartt School of Music Guitar Department and its founder/director Richard Provost on the occasion of their 50th anniversary. The project was conceived at dinner following a concert of the New England Guitar Quartet at the Hartt Festival in the summer of 2013. My interest in writing chamber music melded perfectly with Dick’s desire to plan a celebration/concert for the Anniversary. Dick suggested using The Man with the Blue Guitar by Wallace Stevens (a resident of Hartford, CT) as a source of lyrics for a song to include. This incredible testimony to art and its role in changing society became inspiration for the music and titles. The possibilities for chamber music with guitar, guitar orchestra and ensembles are only beginning to be fully realized. Thank you Dick (and all your colleagues) who brought the guitar out of the dark ages and into a brilliant new community of creativity and progress through your courage, hard work and vision. Thanks to the Augustine Foundation for their support of this project. Let us imagine a future as it could be: “Things as they are / Are changed upon the blue guitar.” [Stevens]