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- Per Nørgård
Strygekvartet nr. 5 - Inscape (1969)
(String quartet No. 5 - Inscape)- Edition Wilhelm Hansen Copenhagen (World)
Programme Note
STRING QUARTET Nr. 5 - INSCAPE (1969)
programme note - short version
Inscape (String Quartet No. 5) has a certain motifrelationship (especially in the last movement) with Dreamscape (String Quartet No. 4), but is the only example of my string quartets which is based on quarter notes (except for the last movement). Only one scale of seven quarter tones constitutes the entire basis for the first two movements, resulting the title Inscape, as the idea of the work is so that the listener attains an intimacy with the otherwise “strange” small intervals and regards this small world as “the normal”. Finally in the last movement this boundary is crossed over – almost like an analogy to the famous medieval engraving in which you see a man looking out from the boundary of the world into the endless sky.
Per Nørgård, October 1988
programme note - longer version
The spectrum of sound, the gesticulation – in short, the very nature of the strings – has always had a central place in my output, demonstrated by the numbers of string quartets, concertos with string soloist, chamber and solo works. The interest dates back to my school years, when I was fortunate to be able to compose for a cello-playing schoolmate and to accompany him on the piano. I discovered then the innumerable nuances of sound and playing varieties offered by just one bow, four strings and five fingers..
Inscape (String Quartet No. 5) has a certain motifrelationship (especially in the last movement) with Dreamscape (String Quartet No. 4), but is the only example of my string quartets which is based on quarter notes (except for the last movement). Only one scale of seven quarter tones constitutes the entire basis for the first two movements, resulting the title Inscape, as the idea of the work is so that the listener attains an intimacy with the otherwise “strange” small intervals and regards this small world as “the normal”. Finally in the last movement this boundary is crossed over – almost like an analogy to the famous medieval engraving in which you see a man looking out from the boundary of the world into the endless sky.
Per Nørgård (1998)
programme note - short version
Inscape (String Quartet No. 5) has a certain motifrelationship (especially in the last movement) with Dreamscape (String Quartet No. 4), but is the only example of my string quartets which is based on quarter notes (except for the last movement). Only one scale of seven quarter tones constitutes the entire basis for the first two movements, resulting the title Inscape, as the idea of the work is so that the listener attains an intimacy with the otherwise “strange” small intervals and regards this small world as “the normal”. Finally in the last movement this boundary is crossed over – almost like an analogy to the famous medieval engraving in which you see a man looking out from the boundary of the world into the endless sky.
Per Nørgård, October 1988
programme note - longer version
The spectrum of sound, the gesticulation – in short, the very nature of the strings – has always had a central place in my output, demonstrated by the numbers of string quartets, concertos with string soloist, chamber and solo works. The interest dates back to my school years, when I was fortunate to be able to compose for a cello-playing schoolmate and to accompany him on the piano. I discovered then the innumerable nuances of sound and playing varieties offered by just one bow, four strings and five fingers..
Inscape (String Quartet No. 5) has a certain motifrelationship (especially in the last movement) with Dreamscape (String Quartet No. 4), but is the only example of my string quartets which is based on quarter notes (except for the last movement). Only one scale of seven quarter tones constitutes the entire basis for the first two movements, resulting the title Inscape, as the idea of the work is so that the listener attains an intimacy with the otherwise “strange” small intervals and regards this small world as “the normal”. Finally in the last movement this boundary is crossed over – almost like an analogy to the famous medieval engraving in which you see a man looking out from the boundary of the world into the endless sky.
Per Nørgård (1998)