Parti...

When I wrote my Culs-de-sac (en passacaille) for string quartet in 2009, it was evident to me that I should develop the sonic soundscape that I have created in that piece. I have decided that I write a cycle of compositions for string quartet and its subsets.

Parti… marks the third piece that I completed in this cycle. In naming this piece I have thought of two things. First of all, it is an homage to a work by Johann Sebastian Bach (i.e. Partita) which, after nearly three centuries, remains to be a rite of passage for all violinists. As I composed this work, I could not help but think of the magnitude of the influence that the masterpiece had on me as a composer.

Then the title signifies “the beginning” or “starting up,” as the French word “partir” may suggest. This work indeed begins the entire cycle. Yet the signification does not stop there. In 2002 Mahir Cetiz, composer and good friend of mine, wrote an orchestral piece entitled Left. Even though he now considers the work juvenile, in listening to the piece I felt that the work possessed such a grand force of creativity that would guide Mahir in years that followed afterwards.

I thank Ari Streisfeld, violinist of JACK Quartet, who premiered the preliminary version of the work in New York. I also thank Maja Cerar who premiered the second preliminary version of the work. The current version reflects the premiere of the revised and final version in Takefu, Japan in September 2015 by Yasutaka Hemmi. Without their generous advices I would not have seen the work finished in its current version.

Parti… is dedicated to Ari Streisfeld and Mahir Cetiz.