The four points on a compass; the four seasons; the four Gospel
accounts;
the four horsemen of the Apocalypse; Carl Jung's theory of personality
(intellectual, emotional, spiritual, sensual); the Beatles (John, Paul,
George and Ringo) etc. The quadrivial paradigm lies at the heart of
"Four
Points of View" for Violin and Cello - a set of four short movements
each
of which takes a decidedly different "view" of the same theme. The
opening
movement is a cello solo with the violin providing a drone
accompaniment.
Movement II is a playful duet featuring pizzicato and percussive
effects.
Movement III is a slow nocturne for violin solo with the cello
providing
a simple accompaniment. Movement IV is a brash and furiously fast
finale
incorporating folk-idioms from the Balkans.
The mp3 excerpt below is from a Cleveland Orchestra Trio concert given
in April of 1998 with Sheryl Staples, Violin and Richard Weiss, Cello.
LOOK-
LISTEN-