Lyric for Strings
George WalkerPiece Duration: 6:23
About this Piece
"Lyric for Strings dates from Walker’s earliest days as a composer, written while he was a graduate student at the Curtis Institute of Music and identified himself primarily as a pianist. It received its premiere by the Curtis student orchestra. 'I never played a string instrument,' Walker once said, 'but somehow strings have always fascinated me.'
[...] Lyric for Strings began as the second movement of a string quartet. Walker had just started to compose this music when he learned that his grandmother had died, and it became a memorial for her." - Chicago Symphony
Notable Passages
Time Stamp:
0:37
— 2:00
Description: Throughout this piece, musical lines that move by step weave through the parts of the string orchestra. Can you follow them?
Keywords: Conjunct Motion - Counterpoint
Description: Throughout this piece, musical lines that move by step weave through the parts of the string orchestra. Can you follow them?
Keywords: Conjunct Motion - Counterpoint
Time Stamp:
2:51
— 3:53
Description: George Walker shows off the extreme high and low range of the string orchestra, here! The musical texture rises, and the violins arrive in the high range of their instrument, followed by dramatically low chords in the cello and bass parts.
Keywords: Range - Composition Technique , Range - Expressive Elements , Range - Melody , Range - Texture
Description: George Walker shows off the extreme high and low range of the string orchestra, here! The musical texture rises, and the violins arrive in the high range of their instrument, followed by dramatically low chords in the cello and bass parts.
Keywords: Range - Composition Technique , Range - Expressive Elements , Range - Melody , Range - Texture