- Date: 1957
- Composer: Gunther Schuller
- Period: Modern (1910-1949)
Review
The work is set in four numbered parts plus a movement named "Interlude" situated between Part III and IV, all parts played without interruption. It is a dissonant, intellectual work typical of Schuller's oeuvre from the '50s and '60s.The composer has described the work: "[It was] originally conceived for a quartet of violin, piano, percussion and dancer . . . In its original form the piece was conceived as a chamber work into which the dance part was fully integrated by the composer, to the extent even of defining the dance part in its rhythmic and gestural contours by means (primarily) of rhythmic and dynamic notation as well as general movement indications. The overall continuity was determined on two parallel planes, one a very loose scenario (suggested by the dancer) depicting 'the cycle of life from Birth to Death,' the other a fluid continuum of interrelationships between all four 'instruments.' Thus not only is the choreography structurally integrated into the musical context, but all four parts undergo a composer-controlled process in which they not only merge in the usual ensemble sense, but actually enter into a symbiotic relationship by role exchange, role reversal, each part at times assuming qualities and characteristics indigenous to the others," the violin percussive, the percussion melodic, for example.
Jack Diether reviewed a performance of the work at the New School for Research in New York in the Fall of 1960: ". . . [W]hen the composer is Gunther Schuller in a relatively impressionist vein, the result is actually more a contest in tonal nuance than in volume. The word 'relatively' here is of course no joking matter to those on speaking terms with the 12-tone idiom. They will find nothing even remotely impressionist in such disassociated tones and timbres as Mr. Schuller keeps offering us . . . [I]ndeed it is an austere, even abstract work . . ."
A composer-supervised recording exists on GM 2007, the piece being performed by Anahid Ajemian, violin, Maro Ajemian, piano, and Walter Rosenberger, percussion. ~ Norbert Carnovale, All Music Guide
Albums with Complete Performances of the Work
| Title | Date |
| Schuller/Lee: Symbiosis | 1997 |
