The Making of Kaleidoscope - String Quartet

The “Institut Grand-Ducal” celebrated its 150th anniversary on 25 October 2018.

As a member of this Institute I was asked to propose a 4 minutes composition from my existing repertoire, which would be performed during the ceremony. Since I didn’t have anything that short I offered to compose a new piece of music for that occasion.

However I wasn’t enticed by the idea of composing a 4 minutes one-off piece, that would be performed on just one occasion. So I started thinking how I could design a composition – mine usually have a length of 13-18 minutes – so that it could work even if someone decided to play only part of it.  

The outcome was “Kaleidoscope”. It is a piece of approximately 15 minutes if played from start to end. And it is made up of many tiny bits, like beads which you can string onto a thread.

Kaleidoscope’s first short part introduces all the material, which becomes then recurring in several different versions.  

In the end, it is then up to the musicians to decide whether to play the whole piece or just elements of it.

Provided that 4 parts at least are played, the quartet can decide which segments to play and in which order. No matter how long or short a piece you play, Kaleidoscope remains an exciting composition by design.