Beskid Highland Robbers
for violin, viola, cello and double bass
Beskid highland robbers is a programme work inspired by the history of the bands of robbers that once roamed the Beskid Niski Mountains and the Nowy Sącz area, and by Szymbark Castle, which during the Renaissance protected its inhabitants from the robbers. This composition tells of raids on noble mansions and of the treasures plundered by the robbers and hidden in secret caves. Beskid Highland Robbers is scored for violin, viola, cello and double bass. The departure from the standard string quartet line-up was dictated by a wish to highlight the drama and unrest that escalates throughout the composition, underscored in the double bass part. The compositional means employed to stir the listener’s imagination include folk-style melodies, ‘sullied’ by the semitone overlapping of the parts, sounds imitating the clatter of horses’ hooves on a raid, and elements reminiscent of a folk-style accompaniment: a drone, chords without a third and open strings.
Ewa Borcz
translated by John Comber
- Editor of graphic design: Marcin Hernas
- Series: Music of Our Times
- ISMN 979-0-2740-3341-5
- Language of edition: eng, pol
- Number of pages: 16+6
- Cover: softcover
- No. of edition: 1
- Published: 2021
- Type: score and parts
- Size: N4 vertical (235x305 mm)
