Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Michael Fine
Suite for Strings
- Le Chant Du Monde (World)
‘Heading North’, ‘Heading South’, ‘Finding Home’... a personal travelogue beginning with a brief overture whose restless beginning expresses some of the composer's wanderlust.
Programme Note
Suite for Strings
This Suite was my first attempt to compose for orchestra and the first of my compositions which I heard performed in concert. Its four movements are a personal travelogue beginning with a brief overture whose restless beginning expresses some of my wanderlust. ‘Heading North’ had its creative inception with my improvising its opening phrases on a piano in Seoul. The orchestra had been rehearsing the music of one the great Scandinavian composers. This influenced my reflections as I noodled on the piano and the subsequent movement for string orchestra. ‘Heading South’ is a happy retreat to warmer musical climes while the return home in the last movement - ‘Finding Home’ - finds a contented traveler reminiscing on the voyage. It ends simply with the cello saying ‘I’m home’ via a return to C major.
This Suite was my first attempt to compose for orchestra and the first of my compositions which I heard performed in concert. Its four movements are a personal travelogue beginning with a brief overture whose restless beginning expresses some of my wanderlust. ‘Heading North’ had its creative inception with my improvising its opening phrases on a piano in Seoul. The orchestra had been rehearsing the music of one the great Scandinavian composers. This influenced my reflections as I noodled on the piano and the subsequent movement for string orchestra. ‘Heading South’ is a happy retreat to warmer musical climes while the return home in the last movement - ‘Finding Home’ - finds a contented traveler reminiscing on the voyage. It ends simply with the cello saying ‘I’m home’ via a return to C major.