Orchestra & Chamber

General Info:
This CD is 1 of 6 CDs that together total over 60 musical compositions and are a representative sampling of over 800 musical compositions composed by Richard Strunk over the course of the past 3 decades (1974 - 2007). A substantial number of Rick's 800+ musical compositions are Classical pieces for solo instrumental players and include works for almost all the instruments existing within the modern symphony orchestra. There is also a large body of chamber music by Rick composed for both Classical ensembles such as String Quartets; Piano Trios etc, plus much that is written for Jazz quartets and quintets that utilize the fusing of either Pop song and/or Classical work with Jazz, as well as electronic music and some larger orchestra works too. Occasionally Rick has also written some Pop/Rock tunes through the years too. More CDs are coming soon. Enjoy!

Description:
Symphony For Strings (M 1) was first performed electronically at the Mighty Fine Cafe (NE Mpls) using a piano transcription for synthesized strings. It is the first movement of 10 movements making up my Symphony For Strings. The entire works duration is approximately 1 hour. A strong yet smooth opening movement without the hard edged interval quality of many of my works in the 3rd stream genre.

Description:
(?c. ‘80ish) String Quartet No. 1 is for 1st Violin; 2nd Violin, Viola, and ‘Cello. This work is in 4 movements and is entirely based on various versions of the interval succession ‘11-6-1-6’. A modified version of Milton Babbits Rhythm Time Point method was also used for determining pitch duration and the structure of the movements. It has a real midwest sound to it possibly on an overcast day in the plains of kansas with a brooding thunderstorm making up its mind to form or not. Or a sunset with forbidding clouds beginning to form and deepen the night to gloom yet with rifts showing up in the clouds now here and there to see some stars yet shining. Or make up your own program.
4:46 Movement No. 1
1:50 Movement No. 2
0:29 Movement No. 3
1:50 Movement No. 4

Description:
This work is an arrangement of one of my Kaleidoscopic piano pieces after JS Bach that is designed to reach out to non-classical listeners in a 3rd-stream tradition rather like some of Frank Zappa’s works. It is composed with a 12-tone methodology with its interval logic having been reconfigured wholistically from the original intervals within the piece and has a flavor that is quite unique and is a part of my series of 3rd stream compositions. Its got whistles and plenty of other fun timbers too. One of the Coolest Classical Small Orchestra Pieces Ever!

"Rock the Nation!"

Description:
This work was originally an Art Song I composed in 1975 using the poem 'Sea Fever' by John Masefield. Later I scored it for oboe and piano. The words that go with the melody are by John Masefield. The music mimics and expresses the mood of the text throughout. The link below pop ups the poem or text used to compose this work.

See Text

Description:
In 1978 while attending Grinnell College I was living off campus in a rather old House that had been converted into several apartments. I shared a bathroom with the other apartment on the 2nd floor, Larry's apartment. Larry a young butcher living in the other second floor apartment allowed me to use his kitchen table to write this composition since my apartment was too small to have any table. I used this experience as a title for one of my early Small Orchestra minimalist works. This music was composed in that apartment's kitchen area; I wrote most of the work sitting at Larry's kitchen table and thus the name.

This composition was my first minimalist work for a larger Ensemble and is scored for a small a \orchestra. The work was later performed in Herrick Chapel that same year with the New Music Association or Grinnell College Jazz Orchestra that both David Unger and I co-conducted for that semester. Plus some of the performance Instructors also sat in and played in its premier. It was a very successful performance and a lot of fun although the number of musicians performing it might have been a bit greater than the number of people in the audience.

Description:
(c. 4 /6 / ‘99) This work was very much intuitively composed in the way that I manipulated the interval content to try to musically depict the sorrow and reality of losing ones home as well as a lament for all the dead. The motor rhythms depict a walking stride in the first and third movements. Having been homeless myself, I felt a real kinship with the Kosovo refugee plight of that time.

The Kosovo String Trio is scored in 3 Movements for Violin, ‘Cello, Electric Bass.
-Movement 1 Walking Aimlessly Away From Home (10-1-10)
after 2-Part Invention No. 3 by J. S. Bach
-Movement 2 Lament For The Dead (10-1-10)
after 2-Part Invention No. 1 by J. S. Bach
-Movement 3 Walking Home (2-5-2)
after 2-Part Invention No. 2 by J. S. Bach

Description:
(c. Sept. / ‘99) The 'Homeless Quartet' is a Clarinet Quartet for Clarinet, Violin, ‘Cello and Piano. Originally composed as a 1st movement for a larger 5 movement work it is now a single composition in its own right. It is composed with a 12-tone methodology with its interval logic of (10-1-10) having been reconfigured wholistically from the original intervals within the piece after Bird’s Constellation . This work again focuses on integrating Classical & Jazz traditions. Stylistically, it sounds very much like a harsh Jazz BeBop, but is composed with a 12-tone methodology with its interval logic having been reconfigured within the piece making it a part of my series of 3rd stream compositions. All of these Kaleidoscopic pieces can be thought of also as variations on the original composition.

This work has hybrid orientations with an organic combination of elements from diverse sources, such as a Bartok like classical primitivism with a hard bopping jazz base. The melodic and harmonic intervals used in a constant pulse of 8th notes helps to express the seemingly unending anxiety, frustration, and anger that one becomes accustomed to when one is homeless (Not knowing where the next meal will come from or where to find a place to sleep for the night).

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