Read, Twelve Violin Duets DIGITAL
Digital version includes score and two parts.
Thomas L. Read, composer and violinist, is Professor Emeritus at the University of Vermont. Born in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1938, he studied violin, composition and conducting at the Oberlin, Mozarteum, New England and Peabody Conservatories; violin with Andor Toth Sr. and Richard Burgin, and composition with F. Judd Cooke and Benjamin Lees. As violinist he has been a member of the Erie Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, Boston Festival Arts Orchestra, Vermont Symphony and the Saratoga Festival of Baroque Music. His compositions project a consistent and distinctive personal style while embracing a variety of New Music idioms and techniques. Critics, while noting its lyrical qualities, have called his music "substantive and meticulously planned, with a wide expressive range leaving a feeling of rich satisfaction." C.F.Peters, American Composers Edition, Tunbridge Music, and Tuba Euphonium Press publish his work.
These duets are progressive in technical difficulty, from Grade to through Intermediate. From start to finish, they build an understanding of contemporary harmonies, beginning largely tonal and becoming more dissonant. Asymmetric meters and frequent meter changes challenge players unused to late 20th/early 21st century music—and help them learn!
As part of the Developing Contemporary Techniques Series published by Sleepy Puppy Press, a series that seeks out living composers to write chamber pieces that provide a gentle introduction for intermediate players to the styles, harmonic language,and techniques needed for 20th and 21st century music. Inspired by the Kronos Quartet’s “50 for the Future” project, these pieces help intermediate players understand and enjoy the classical music of their own time.