Hellawell FAMILY GROUP WITH ALIENS

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HELLAWELL

Family Group with Aliens

for String Quartet

Score and Parts

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PIERS HELLAWELL

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Family Group with Aliens

for String Quartet

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PREFACE

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Family Group with Aliens has six separate pieces, though all in some way use the same material.

The six fall into two groups:

The ‘Family’

The ‘Aliens’ (short) c.30ʺ

Reflectaphor a c.4ʹ (medium) c.3ʹ

Reflectaphor c* c.2ʹ

Reflectaphor b c.1ʹ (long) c.7ʹ

The ordering of these 6 items is partly up to the ensemble: ‘Family Group’ items must be separated by ‘Alien’ items – but Reflectaphor c can be positioned anywhere.

Typical orders might be:

Medium or Reflectaphor a or Short

Reflectaphor c Short

Reflectaphor a Short

Reflectaphor c

Reflectaphor b Long

Reflectaphor c

Medium Long

Reflectaphor b

Reflectaphor b

Reflectaphor a Medium Long

TECHNICAL FEATURES

Tutti

Family Group: Long – between letters M and P, the sustained microtone chords employ non vib.

Reflectaphor c is played from score.

Reflectaphor c – from letter ‘E’, Violin 2/Viola are coordinated: Violin 1/ Cello play independently

Violin 1

Reflectaphor b – plucking beyond the bridge, on string chosen ad lib. for best sound

Cello

Family Group: Long – bar 38, 62 etc. – percussive knocks and plucking beyond the bridge

Reflectaphor b – percussive knocks; tremolo on open ‘C’ string by chopsticks or ‘Y-shape’ tuning fork

Reflectaphor c – Cellist sustains open ‘D’ string with battuto (e.g. pencil), alternating with humming

to Mitzi Palmer

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PROGRAMME NOTE

This quartet, my third in as many decades, continues the path of the first two in exploring a structural deployment of larger and smaller pieces, like sculptures around a space. A set of six movements falls into two groups: three of the pieces – the ‘family group’ – essentially express the same piece at different magnifications (and hence different durations, i.e. short: 30ʺ , medium: 3ʹ, and long: 7ʹ); this principle, of exploring the same musical narrative on different scales, has evolved through a number of my works since 2015. The other three pieces – the ‘Aliens’ – are like cousins to these: they all draw on the material of the ‘family’ and so act as commentaries on the main set. This split-level action mixing ‘main’ and ‘supporting’ pieces, by the way, is also found in my previous quartet, Driftwood on Sand (2002) – the work that brought me and Friction Quartet together.

The three ‘Aliens’ each bear the title Reflectaphor – a term coined by Dr John Briggs for something we recognize as being like, but at the same time distinct from, a related item. Where the ‘family group’ differ mainly in scale, therefore, the three Reflectaphor pieces, while they draw on the shared ideas, are highly contrasted in content: (a) is a brief sound-sculpture, while (b) is a passionate slow movement, and (c) is a two-minute elegy for the young Irish composer Danny Barkley, who died in 2018 – quoting, as it does, some materials from his own Belfast Quartet (2014).

The order of the six pieces is left to the performers; however, it is laid down that the two sets must be heard in alternation – like the shuffling of two hands of cards. The intention is that the listener weaves between the main narrative (the ‘family group’) and the reflections upon aspects from within it.

Family Group with Aliens was commissioned by Friction Quartet, and was premiered by them in Old First Concerts, San Francisco, USA on 16th August 2019. Family Group with Aliens is dedicated to Mitzi Palmer.

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FamilyGroup

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Aliens

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Chopsticks/tuning-fork:

mf gliss. ,sim.sempre,gliss.etc (sim.b.5) gliss.

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Freetempo,static 3"

sost.,nonvib. solo

(slightupward gliss.+cresc.)

3" U consord., nonvib. p o nonvib. (slightupward gliss.+cresc.) (nonvib.) U vib. U ,

3" U consord., nonvib. o o (vib.) f

Chopstick/pencil,battuto mp oooooo

HumD,alt.with battutoadlib.

(vcoDscanbe8vaharmonicD,tosuitvocalregister)

fsost. senzasord. U U U Ú consord. p o nonvib. 5

senzasord. UU U Ú consord. p o , (repeatBsirregularly,adlib.) pizz. f Æ Æ Æ ÆÆ Æ

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o , colleg.tr,,1/2bow

solo,independentofchords mpcantando (spacesallowedbetweennotes)

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Piers Hellawell

Piers Hellawell (b. 1956) has worked with leading artists such as the LSO, Schubert Ensemble, Dame Evelyn Glennie and the Hilliard Ensemble, who toured his Hilliard Songbook pieces worldwide. Orchestral works include Cors de chasse (for Håkan Hardenberger, Jonas Bylund and the Philharmonia Orchestra) and the BBC commission Dogs and Wolves (2006), while Syzygy was premiered in 2013 by the Stockholm Chamber Brass/Swedish Chamber Orchestra. 2016 saw Hellawell’s Wild Flow commissioned for the BBC Proms, and a UK tour of Up by the Roots – a collaboration with poet Sinéad Morrissey – as well as a composer feature at Detroit’s Great Lakes Festival. Hellawell has been Professor of Composition at Queen’s University of Belfast since 2002, and has spoken widely on issues of music and cultural ownership as Gresham Professor of Music in London, 2000–2003.

Piers Hellawell (*1956) hat mit vielen namhaften Künstlern und Ensembles zusammengearbeitet, u.a. mit dem London Symphony Orchestra, dem Schubert Ensemble, Evelyn Glennie und dem Hilliard Ensemble, das seinem Hilliard Songbook zu internationaler Bekanntheit verhalf. Zu Hellawells Orchesterwerken zählen Cors de chasse (für Håkan Hardenberger, Jonas Bylund und das Philharmonia Orchestra), das BBC-Auftragswerk Dogs and Wolves (2006) sowie Syzygy, das 2013 von Stockholm Chamber Brass und dem Swedish Chamber Orchestra uraufgeführt wurde. 2016 entstanden Wild Flow für die BBC Proms sowie Up by the Roots – ein Gemeinschaftsprojekt mit der Dichterin Sinéad Morrissey, das bei Konzerten in ganz Großbritannien und Nordirland zur Aufführung kam. Im gleichen Jahr bildete sein Schaffen einen Schwerpunkt des Great Lakes Festival in Detroit. Hellawell ist seit 2002 Professor an der Queen’s University in Belfast. Von 2000 bis 2003 hatte er die Londoner Gresham-Professur für Musik inne und setzte sich bei seinen Vorträgen mit Fragen des kulturellen Eigentums in der Musik auseinander.

The Peters Contemporary Chamber Series offers the opportunity to discover new works to programme, study and play. Representing the full breadth of our library of modern chamber music, this curated series of performance materials ranges from established repertoire to pieces recently premiered.

Mit einer sorgfältigen Auswahl aus unserem breitgefächerten Katalog moderner Kammermusik lädt die Peters Contemporary Chamber Series dazu ein, neues Repertoire zu entdecken, zu erkunden und zu Gehör zu bringen. In Form von Aufführungsmaterialien umfasst sie etablierte Werke ebenso wie erst kürzlich uraufgeführte Kompositionen.