PALM STRINGS (2017)

INSTRUMENTATION

2 Violins, Viola, Cello

DURATION

4 minutes

PROGRAM NOTE

Palm Strings for String Quartet (2017) is my nod to Palm Springs, a trendy resort town and haven for privacy-seeking celebrities. Situated in southern California’s Coachella Valley, Palm Springs is a beacon of mid-century modern architecture and home to some of the world’s poshest mansions and swankest swimming pools. The city exudes a fantastic energy amped up by extreme, arid heat and is nestled within a surprisingly cozy retro-chic setting, illuminated nightly by the radiance of starlight glittering across vast desert skies. Just as your typical stay in this quirky community is brief, so too is this musical bonbon, charting in at less than four minutes in length.

Palm Strings was written for the Calidore String Quartet, winners of the inaugural M-Prize International Chamber Music Competition Grand Prize and themselves a group who call southern California their home of origin.

 —Jules Pegram (2017)