Kevin Gunia
composer and pianist

Premiere performance:

27 April 2022

Ivalas Quartet

Grusin Hall, University of Colorado Boulder

Boulder, CO

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Winner of the 2022 University of Colorado Boulder Graduate Composition Award

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After composing my saxophone quartet, It's High Time, I wanted to write something that was the complete opposite of that work. I turned to a more lyrical style of writing, with melodic figures, quartal and quintle harmonies, long phrases, and counterpoint. In essence, I wanted a work that was more beautiful than flashy. This quartet is in two movements: the first fast, the second mostly slow. The first harmony of the second movement is related to the final harmony of the first movement. Otherwise, the movements are contrasting from one another.

 

This work was written for the Ivalas Quartet for performance in April 2022.

Second performance by the Delgani String Quartet in April 2023.