Quintet 2 will be premiered later this month at Tulane University by East Coast Contemporary Ensemble, conducted by Jean-Philippe Wurtz.

Quintet 2 – by Christian Carey (2016)

Quintet 2 was composed for East Coast Contemporary Ensemble and conductor Jean-Philippe Wurtz at the request of John Aylward, their artistic director. The quintet is cast in a single movement that is about fifteen minutes in duration. It utilizes the group’s core instrumentation – oboe, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano – marrying their respective timbres and techniques in a variety of combinations and interactions.

First stated in the clarinet, there is a tune that reappears in different guises, treated as a lyrical melody that travels from instrument to instrument and as a contrapuntal building block in faster passages. Towards the end of the piece, we begin to hear melodies being shaded microtonally, with quartertones appearing, notated in the Maneri-Sims (New England Microtonal School) fashion. This is contrasted with chromatic verticals that become increasingly triadic. The piece ends with a widely spaced version of a major triad with chromatic extensions.

Christian Carey is Associate Professor of Music Composition, History, and Theory at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. His music has been performed by ACME, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Atlantic Chamber Orchestra, C4 Choral Ensemble, the Choral Fellows at Harvard’s Memorial Church, Chamber Players of the League of Composers/ISCM, loadbang, Locrian Chamber Players, Manhattan Choral Ensemble, New York New Music Ensemble, Righteous Girls, and the Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra. Recordings of his music have appeared on New Focus Records and Perspectives of New Music/Open Space.