SAUNDERS
Unbreathed for String Quartet
Score and Parts
ISSUU Version
For perusal only
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REBECCA SAUNDERS
Unbreathed
for String Quartet
POD PETERS on demand
ALLE
EDITION PETERS
LEIP ZI G · L ONDO N · NE W YOR K
ISSUU Version
Commissioned by: Wigmore Hall with the support of André Hoffmann, president of the Fondation Hoffmann, a Swiss grant-making foundation; the Dina Koston and Roger Shapiro Fund in the Library of Congress; ECLAT Festival Stuttgart; Festival Musica Strasbourg; Philharmonie Luxembourg; Klangspuren Schwaz; November Music.
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First performance at the Wigmore Hall on 18th January 2018
Unbreathed for string quartet (2017)
Inside, withheld, unbreathed, Nether, undisclosed.
Soufe, vapour, ghost, hauch and dust.
Absent, silent, void, Naught beside.
Either, neither, sole, Unifed.
Te skull is enveloped in a profound silence that seems nothingness itself. Te silence does not reside on the surface, but is held like smoke within. It is unfathomable, eternal, a disembodied vision cast upon a point in the void. Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Haruki Murakami
“... I’ll never know, which is perhaps merely the inside of my distant skull where once I wandered ...” Te Unnamable, Samuel Beckett
“... one day to be here, where there are no days, which is no place, born of the impossible voice the unmakable, and a gleam of light, still all would be silent and empty and dark, and dark, as now, as soon now, when all will be ended, all said, it says, it murmurs.”
XIII, Texts For Nothing, Samuel Beckett
“Tis corporal revenge. A genuine, concerted and systematic undoing of grace. Every promise discovered too late to be a fucking lie told badly. Te promise of intimacy and the promise of beauty ripped away to reveal a gawping, hyperreal brute ...”
US DEAD TOLD LOVE, A primer for cavaders, Ed Atkins
RS, December 2017
General
Within this small palette of timbres, explore the extremes of articulation, colour, dynamic and intent. Enjoy moments of respite, bringing out soft, lyrical and warm sounds in contrast to the dominant, loud and distorted sound material.
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Silence is the canvas – despite the somewhat choleric nature of the sound material, all sounds surface out of, and disappear into, silence.
First section explores a compromised melody on D – here think Bach!
Te 2-part melody of the fnal section is fragile, intimate and expressive – extreme timbral contrast, even at ppp : sempre molto fautando both f and sp
Upper strings: Violins sul IV and III/IV; Viola sul III and II/III – make some exceptions if you need, but keep the extreme timbral colouring of the lowest string.
Violoncello sul IV solo line: explore bow contact points and degrees of fautando for the rich sonority of 4th string. Violoncello joins the upper strings towards the end – play very high on lowest string possible, also molto fautando.
Tempi
Tempi given are only guidelines. Interpretation and acoustic of performance space are key. Expand fermatas and resonance-like moments as necessary. Never too fast.
Important is a driven and fowing line in the frst section, where rhythmic coherence and articulation of timbral contrast are clearly defned. Further fuctuations of tempi may be necessary to maintain extreme energy.
Tempo 144 in bars 189–277 is approximate. Find tempo where f and pp spiccato works best. Never too fast – hold it!
Tempo 42 of the fnal section is approximate – keep in motion, never stagnant. Timeless, but avoid melancholy.
Duration
ca. 21 minutes
Legende
f Sul tasto extreme sempre fautando bow, over fngerboard, as near to half-way node as possible; hollow, foating, beautiful.
sp Sul pont: pp/ppp bring out overtones. In fnal section written tones still heard – fowing and expressive. f/ff sound towards distortion but bow remains fowing, never stuttering.
½-sp Sul pont colouring faut Molto fautando
b Stop bow abruptly.
œ
Glissando to top or bottom of string.
è 5 R aised or lowered by ¼-tone – this chiefy has an expressive function and need not be exact.
p vib Poco vibrato
n v Senza vibrato
œ A tenuto gentle and expressive Brahmsian vib pulse on start of note.
b m vib
?
œ œ œ œ Gradually from vib to m vib increasing left-hand movement to a glissando within given interval limit (upper note in brackets).
~~~~~
œ subito tight fast vib on pp/ppp tone with sp.
> sp Accents: frst part, accents biting, hard-edged and extreme sf; fnal section, be gentle – accent articulates the change to sul pont.
> - > - Tenuto and accents denote bow changes. Change bows on long passages and notes freely as often as necessary. Hear all tenutos.
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¿ sfp ¿ > œè œ5 Sempre subito sp marcato extreme accent deep in the string and then immediate release to subito ord.
b
œ sp marcato extreme accent on immediate fast glissando – distorted overtones! Non diminuendo.
æ æ æ æ œ Tremolando and trill when played simultanously always very fast fused sound
æ æ œ Play all trills with two beams as fast as possible.
Harmonics – Playing pitch of harmonics is shown. At key moments the string or harmonic node is also given for exact clarifcation.
Exact overtone pitches are not critical where the addition of sul pont creates additional layers of very high white overtones.
5 ‚ ‚ ‚ ## ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ multiphonic ½-tone down from normal harmonic node without trill - fnd bow point of contact for clear multiphonic sound, beautiful.
Double-harmonic trill sul pont, often with smooth glissando. Lower fnger held down on harmonic, upper fngers trilling. Tese trills are always extremely fast and almost mechanical whether ff, pp, subito f or with cresendo/decrescendo from/to silence. Crescendo to f with a fast and fuid up-bow gesture where possible.
Blacked out harmonics for exact duration. White harmonic shows the note to be trilled.
[1323] ‚ O O O Fast regular rhythmic harmonic fnger-patterns. 32nd-note passages sempre spiccato – spiky, hard-edged. Black harmonic notehead - fnger ½-depressed on harmonic throughout; white harmonic upper fngers released immediately.
[123432] 66
Bracketted fngering pattern is continued until rests or new pattern is shown, with and without continuous glissando of fnger 1.
Bars 199–278 tempo ca 144 is approximate. Find tempo where f and pp spiccato works best. æ
Start and stop of clear regular 16th-note bowings. During continuous fast harmonic trills. Flautando and pp
Unspecifc and high harmonics. At ff cutting like a knife and extremely white.
Double and triple string crossings. Expressive – explore freely changing bow patterns and bow strokes. Create 3-part chords, a quasi multiphonic. Bracketted third note should occur less. Te harmonic trill is subito very fast even when barely audible. Bring out the overtone spectrum as much as possible when marked with ½-sp, sp.
Violoncello fnal section
Gradually increase frequency of detaché strokes from slow to very fast maximum tremelando. Trill remains constant and fast.
Gradually decrease frequency of tremolando with increasingly longer detaché strokes to the point of non trem. Trill remains fast.
Gradually from ord. tone to harmonic; gradually releasing fnger pressure.
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Rebecca Saunders
Rebecca Saunders (b. 1967) studied with Wolfgang Rihm at the Musikhochschule in Karlsruhe, Germany, and for a doctorate in composition with Nigel Osborne at Edinburgh University. She lives in Berlin. Saunders’ numerous composition prizes include three Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards, two BASCA British Composer Awards and the 2019 Ernst von Siemens Music Prize. Her works have been performed at festivals including the Huddersfeld Festival, the Berlin Biennale and the Darmstadt International Summer Course. In 2009 she became a member of the Berlin Academy of Arts. Saunders’ works include chroma, for chamber groups distributed throughout the performance space; void, a concerto for percussion duo and orchestra; and Yes, a spatial performance for soprano, 19 soloists and conductor.
Rebecca Saunders (*1967) studierte Komposition bei Wolfgang Rihm an der Musikhochschule Karlsruhe und promovierte an der Edinburgh University bei Nigel Osborne. Sie lebt in Berlin. Saunders wurde für ihr Schaffen vielfach ausgezeichnet, u. a. mit drei Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards, zwei BASCA British Composer Awards sowie mit dem Ernst von Siemens Musikpreis 2019. Ihre Werke erklangen bei zahlreichen Festivals, wie dem Huddersfeld Festival, der Berliner Biennale und den Darmstädter Ferienkursen für Neue Musik. 2009 wurde sie zum Mitglied der Berliner Akademie der Künste ernannt. Zu ihren Werken zählen chroma für räumlich verteilte Kammergruppen, ein Konzert für Schlagzeugduo und Orchester mit dem Titel void sowie die Raumperformance Yes für Sopran, 19 Solisten und Dirigent.
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.
Photo © Astrid Ackermann