Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra
Commissioned by the Amarillo Symphony for its 100th anniversary, Harrington String Quartet, Amarillo Symphony, George Jackson, cond.
Duration: 32 minutes
Canyon was written for the 100th anniversary of the Amarillo Symphony in Texas, with their former principal string players (the Harrington String Quartet) in mind. A place which has become very special to me over the years is the Palo Duro Canyon, right next to Amarillo; it is the second largest canyon in the United States, and is rugged and full of a rich history. Each of the four movements honors a distinctive part of that history:
I. Red Landscape
The title comes from the Georgia O’Keefe painting of the canyon when she lived here; it is some of her most important early work, and is more expressionistic in nature.
II. Echoes
Voices of past peoples who lived in the canyon are felt there: The Clovis (ancient), Folsom (ancient), Apache, Comanche, Kiowa, Cheyenne, and others; By 1541 when the Spanish Conquistador, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, stumbled into Palo Duro Canyon, indigenous peoples had been living there for 10,000 years.
III. Stars and the Altar
The night sky in the canyon draws the eyes upward; the altar is an ancient rock formation in the canyon.
IV. Red River
A tributary of the Red River was the original force forming the canyon.
—Christopher Theofanidis
Biography