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Duo46 Interview
Posted on Tuesday, July 05, 2005. © Copyright 2004-2008 David Bruce
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Duo46
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CT: talks to Duo46, a violin and guitar duo who specialize in contemporary music.
Tell us all about Duo46- how it started, what it is, why, who?
Duo46 (4 strings on the violin, 6 strings on the guitar) is Matt Gould, guitar and Beth Ilana Schneider, violin. We started playing together while Graduate Teaching Assistants at the University of Arizona. We began studying standard 19th-c. original repertoire, moving into little-known 19th-c. rep., Baroque transcriptions and some Spanish works. Soon exhausting this rep, and a little bored, we began to search for 20th-c. music. When we discovered hundreds of pieces still unrecorded, or not even premiered, we found our voice. After compiling an annotated bibliography of over 450 original violin and guitar works written in the 20th-c., we began to archive the pieces with our first CD featuring music from the 1950s. Since then, we have balanced our time performing/recording existing works with commissioned ones from composers living in countries less represented so far...and to no guess, America was the least represented, and the subject of our disc Untaming the Fury.
What excites you about a piece of music - what keeps you interested?
Virgin territory. No hang-ups or pressure to recreate something past. A living entity. Basically, how the piece measures up to our MTHRFC criteria: clear melody, texture, harmony, rhythm, form and counterpoint...keeps us interested.
And what turns you off ?
Mass-Movers. Inhumane (MIDI) tempo indications. Artificial Harmonics.
How do you go about programming your concerts?
Whenever possible, we try to program works by local composers wherever we may be performing, and we like to present thematic programs. On average, we premiere about 20 new works each year, so most programs need careful planning.
How do you respond to unsolicited work- do you give feedback? Do you ever commission new work yourself?
At this point, we have privy to most of the violin and guitar pieces being written at some point. We give priority to commissioned works and non-premiered/unsolicited works after.
What do you see as the role (intended and actual) of new music in the modern world?
We believe that New Music is an art form and can be appreciated by most, and function on this level as part of the cultural heritage of different places in the world. We want our new music works to appeal to the intellect-to cause one to think, as well as to feel.
Interview by David Bruce © Copyright 2004-2008
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