About Bach

Cassandra Miller

About Bach has been performed in Bologna, Innsbruck, Jakarta, London, Montréal, New York City, Régina, Snape Bridge, Tilburg, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria and Winnipeg…

This string quartet is an expansion of a solo work for viola (of the same name) which was commissioned by philanthropist Daniel Cooper for violist Pemi Paull. It’s a piece about process, about Pemi’s musicality, about Bach of course, and in the end, about the Quatuor Bozzini.

I first took a recording of a short phrase (the first phrase in major) of the famous Chaconne from Bach’s Partita no. 2, performed live by Pemi. I then meticulously transcribed the recording with the help of some software — this is a process I’ve developed over some years to apprehend the exact rhythmic musicality of a performance, capturing as well various artifacts such as the viola’s upper partials as they change within each bow-stroke.

The opening of the piece is simply this transcribed phrase of Bach, with a harmony of my own making, which turns the phrase into a gently jaunty chorale. From there the phrase goes through a somewhat inaudible process that is simply let to run, until it runs itself out. It’s a constant meandering, a non-developmental piece in an extreme sense. My interest (and freedom) in exploring such a simple form comes directly from working with the Quatuor Bozzini, and this string quartet version is a souvenir of gratitude for years of great inspiration.

Premiere

  • May 8, 2015, AngelicA 25: Concert, Teatro San Leonardo — Centro di Ricerca Musicale, Bologna (Italy)

Awards

About Bach

  • Composer(s): Cassandra Miller
  • Year of composition: 2015
  • Duration: 25:00
  • Instrumentation: string quartet
Video
On disc
Concerts
8 May 2015
9:30 pm
CraneMiller
In person
Bologna (Italy)
19 Marc 2016
8:00 pm
GrovenJamiesonMiller
In person
Winnipeg (Manitoba, Canada)
12 Marc 2017
3:00 pm
MillerOesterlePerron
In person
Régina (Saskatchewan, Canada)
13 May 2017
8:00 pm
ButterfieldCheungMillerWalshe
In person
Victoria (British Columbia, Canada)
18 Sept 2017
8:00 pm
Série QB
HarrisonMiller
In person
Montréal (Québec)
19 Sept 2017
7:00 pm
HarrisonMiller
In person
Toronto (Ontario, Canada)
11 Augu 2018
8:00 pm
MillerOesterleSmithVivier
In person
Jakarta (Indonesia)
14 Augu 2018
8:00 pm
MillerSmith
In person
New York City (New York, USA)
21 Sept 2018
8:00 pm
BachBarryDunnMiller
In person
Innsbruck (Austria)
18 Octo 2018
MillerTenney
In person
Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada)
19 Nove 2019
8:30 pm
MillerPinnockShostakovich
In person
Tilburg (Netherlands)
18 Marc 2020
7:30 pm
Cancelled
GordonMillerShostakovich
In person
Birmingham (England, UK)
16 June 2020
3:00 pm
Cancelled
BachMillerOesterleSchubert
In person
Aldeburgh (England, UK)
19 Nove 2022
7:30 pm
Série QB
BarryMiller
In person
Montréal (Québec)
3 Dece 2022
7:00 pm
BarryMillerOesterle
In person
London (England, UK)
17 June 2023
3:30 pm
BachBeethovenMillerOesterle
In person
Snape Bridge (England, UK)