Instrumentation

2 vln.2 vla.vlc

Availability

A4 facsimile score 0-571-55548-9 (fp) on sale, parts on special sale from the Hire Library

Programme Notes

I made my quintet (for string quintet and viola) by juxtaposing five distinct fragments: each one a facet of the same musical idea - an old Norman folksong, called La mort du roi Renaud - which happens to have a family resemblance to the medieval hymn Ave Maris Stella used as a tenor by Monteverdi in his Vespro della beata Vergine

Each of these fragments is framed by a long unison crescendo and a little stuttering refrain, and each is dominated by a solo instrument. At the outset, after a long (bearly) unison tutti there are two ruminative sections, for the first viola and second violin. A cello solo leads to more extrovert music for the first violin and the second viola. Near the end, a ghost of the Monteverdi, in folkloric disguise, peeps out before a tiny chorale/coda closes down the work. 

John Woolrich, 1995

The Death of King Renaud

repeated 8.45pm

BBC Radio 3 (United Kingdom)

Bodsky Quartet/Jane Atkins

The Death of King Renaud

from Aldeburgh Festival 2006

BBC Radio 3 (United Kingdom)

Royal Quartet with Antoine Tamestit (viola)

The Death of King Renaud

Aldeburgh Parish Church (Aldeburgh, Suffolk, United Kingdom)

The Royal String Quartet and Antoine Tamestit (vla)

The Death of King Renaud

Turner Sims Concert Hall, University of Southampton (Southampton, United Kingdom)

Allegri Quartet

The Death of King Renaud

Conway Hall (London, United Kingdom)

Allegri Quartet