Glimmers: Movement III. Resonant Light

(Starts at 5:13)

Commissioned and Performed by Kronos Quartet, arranged by Jacob Garchick

Program Note: “When I first met Kronos Quartet founder and violinist David Harrington, we discussed the late George Crumb’s 'Black Angels,' a work that had expanded both of our perspectives on what a string quartet could be(come). It was a late-night broadcast of the New York String Quartet’s recording of Black Angels that originally inspired Harrington to form the Kronos Quartet. 

In turn, Kronos’ recording of the piece has been a touchstone for me over the years, and many of the techniques I reached for on the guitar in shaping 'Glimmers' are inspired by the amplified string textures and singing glass resonances contained within their version." - Rafiq Bhatia

Score and Parts: https://50ftf.kronosquartet.org/composers/rafiq-bhatia 

Range / Extended Technique: This movement utilizes artificial and natural harmonics on the string instruments. The players press their first finger down on the bottom note (normal note-head) as normal, and lightly tap the top note (diamond note-head) with their fourth finger. This produces notes two octaves higher than the written pitch. (ex. The first pitch is a written D5, sounding D7)

Rhythmic Duration: The movement mainly consists of whole notes by one quarter note in each part, which eventually come together 2.5 minutes in (at 7:37), with everyone playing on the downbeat of the bar.

Suggested Activity: Listen to Mvmt. 10 of George Crumb's string quartet "Black Angels," which inspired Bhatia to write "Glimmers," and compare the two movements!

Other Movements:
Movement I. Mylar Tremors
Movement II. Signal Lamps