Geoffrey Gordon
Interiors of a Courtyard (after Hammershøi). Written for the German guitar and mandolin duo Ahlert & Schwab, this work was premiered at the 2003 La Guitarra California Festival and has since been performed across the U.S., France, and Germany. Courtyards is a response to the works of 19th-century painter Vilhelm Hammershøi, whose melancholy images were created with a limited palette of muted colors. These were predominantly on a gray scale, which, when combined with immaculate geometric designs and stunning applications of light, resulted in works of haunting power. Geoffrey Gordon’s response is a work of strict formal construction in five movements (Prelude, three Interludes, and Postlude), intended to capture both the intellectual integrity and penetrating emotional impact of the Hammershøi paintings. (See, for example, An Old Courtyard in Christianshavn, an 1899 oil on canvas.)Pages: �30 pp., each part; 8�“ x 11”
Level: �Advanced
Performance Time: �App. 20 mins.
Below you can hear 60-second excerpts from each movement,
performed by the duo Ahlert & Schwab.
Prelude
Interlude I
Interlude II
Interlude III
Postlude
Click on score to see larger image
