Arizona Friends of Chamber Music
Commissioning program

RICHARD DANIELPOUR

Piano Quartet ("The Book of Hours")

Premiered by the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio and Michael Tree (viola). April 2007. Commissioned by 10 organizations, including the AFCM (in honor of the KLR Trio's 30th Anniversary). Sponsored by: AFCM portion of commission sponsored by Dorothy Olson.

More about Richard Danielpour from G. Schirmer Inc., Associated Music Publishers

Richard Danielpour on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Danielpour

Performances: 92nd.Street Y (NYC), 3/8/08 (KLR, Michael Tree). "Likely, many performances under the radar…"

Published: G. Schirmer. Given many times by composer.

Richard Danielpour, born in New York City, studied piano and composition at the New England Conservatory and the Manhattan School of Music. A committed educator, he currently serves on the faculties of the Curtis Institute and the Juilliard School. Since 1988 he has published exclusively with the firm Associated Music Publishers of America, who writes of him: “Richard Danielpour has established himself as one of the most gifted and sought-after composers of his generation. A distinctive American voice, Danielpour’s music is made from large and romantic gestures, brilliantly orchestrated and rhythmically vibrant. His work has attracted an illustrious array of champions, and, as a devoted mentor and educator, he has also made a significant impact on a younger generation of composers. Much in demand across the globe, Richard Danielpour’s music has been heard throughout the United States and abroad and his commissions read like a Who’s Who of the world’s leading musical institutions and artists. He has written for the New York Philharmonic (Toward the Ancient City and Through the Ancient Valley), the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (Piano Quintet and Sonnets to Orpheus Book 1, for Dawn Upshaw), and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, among many others.”

Richard Danielpour’s piano quartet was commissioned by 10 groups, including the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music with sponsorship in memory of Paul N. Olsen, in honor of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio’s 30th anniversary.

The composer writes: “The Book of Hours” (2006) is a piano quartet representing the 24 hour cycle, beginning with morning or first light. That the 24 hour cycle is itself a metaphor for the life cycle has always been of interest to me. Distinctly related to an idea (though not in musical material) is an earlier work of mine, Psalms for piano solo. The three movements in that work are titled ‘Morning,’ ‘Afternoon,’ and ‘Evening.’

“As my friend the late Stephen Albert once said to me, turning 50 reminds one that there are a limited number of hours left in our lives. And so, having reached the half century mark in January 2006, I am not only constantly reminded of our mortality, but also the blessedness of being alive regardless of how good or bad a day we are having. This idea of course requires constant reminding. The Book of Hours was for me created to be one such reminder. It was also written to be a remembrance of one other idea­that all things live and die­and live again.”