Stefan Kristinkov:
Quintett For Clarinet, Trumpet, Violin, Viola And Cello
Quintett for Clarinet, Trumpet, Violin, Viola and Cello
Date: Jan 2013

The Quintet for Clarinet, Trumpet, Violin, Viola and Cello was written in 2013. This four-movement piece is inspired by the innocent characters of the golden age of animation. With a great sense of humor it explores the cartoonish view on the serious music. All musical elements, including the choice of instruments, compositional techniques and the order of movements are chosen to serve this purpose.
The piece opens with a slow movement, which starts on a pizzicato octave in the low register of a cello and viola followed by a long rest and then a trumpet solo. The movement slowly develops to the fortissimo at the climax point and ends with a trumpet solo from the beginning accompanied by quite awkward pizzicato chords in an unexpected C major.
The fast second movement is given to only three instruments: Clarinet, Trumpet and Violin and written entirely in an octatonic scale. While diminished-chord sonorities create a constant uneasiness and sense of tension, the instruments, mocking each other, create an ambiguous cartoonish atmosphere.
The third movement is probably the most serious place in the piece. With its slow-moving melody hidden in long notes of slowly changing chords, it paints a meditative view on a vast open space over a supposed great amount of time. The last movement returns listeners to the rush of a big city as it would be presented in a cartoon. It is a sonata form which reworks transformed elements presented in previous movements and therefore summarizes the whole piece.

Instrumentation: Clarinet, Trumpet, Violin, Viola, Cello
Published by: Heemrec Music, Brooklyn, NY, USA
ASCAP Work ID: 885306686
ISMN: 979-0-58019-000-0