Listen

Program Notes

Sky Jaunt takes its inspiration from 60’s classic rock music reimagined for the string quartet. The initial thematic motif came to me while listening to the lines “it was twenty years ago today / Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play” from the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. I took the repeating notes F and G from the opening melody of Sgt. Pepper and expanded them into a larger cohesive theme with pulsating harmonic accompaniment. The form can essentially be described as a rondo, specifically A-B-A’-C-A’’-B’-A-coda. The first contrasting episode (B) begins more subdued, in complex and compound duple meters, and in the style of a pastorale. Rhythmic syncopations and diminutions gradually intensify the thematic material until it cadences at a forte on the dominant. The refrain (A’) is relaxed and nonchalant, reappearing only for a moment. Contrasting the refrain, the C episode is the most lyrical and cantabile section of the piece, and is a nod to Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings and Arvo Pärt’s Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten. The A theme is hesitant to return after the lyrical detour, offering only hints and variations on the refrain. A brief reappearance of the B episode provides the key to the refrain as heard in the original opening tempo and character. A lengthy developmental coda heightens the thematic altitude, with driving rhythmic pulsations climbing ever skyward.