Availability
Playing score available on Special Sale from the Hire Library.
Programme Notes
Thanksong was written in partial fulfilment of a Research & Creation grant provided
by the Canada Council for the Arts, and was developed in collaboration with the
Quatuor Bozzini (Canada) and soprano Juliet Fraser (UK).
Thanksong is based on the third movement of Beethoven’s late Quartet Op.132
(the “Heiliger Dankgesang”). Like Beethoven’s remarkable opening, Thanksong is
quiet, inwardly focused and full of gratitude. To compose the piece, Miller sang along
(automatic singing-in-meditation) to the four individual parts of the quartet, many
times in repetition, transforming the material into gentle pendulum-like repeated
gestures. The members of the Quatuor Bozzini and Juliet Fraser each perform
independently, as if five soloists. The quartet members play the music by ear,
listening in headphones to Miller's voice—and the composition is held together by
the pacing and breath of Juliet Fraser, as she sings Beethoven's line as slowly and
quietly as possible
Cassandra Miller