Quarks

Total duration ca. 12 minutes (2022)
Published by Activist Music (ASCAP).
Three movement work: "Up and Down,"
"Charm and Strange,"
and "Top and Bottom."
31 pages, 8.5" x 11".

Commissioned by NAVO and created for Margaret Marco, oboe,
Véronique Mathieu, violin, and Ellen Sommer, piano.

Also related:

Trio for Clarinet, Violin and Piano

Trio for Clarinet, Violin and Piano is the original version of this piece.

Flea Circus

Flea Circus is a one minute recording created from the third movement of "Trio for Clarinet, Violin and Piano": Vivace, recorded by the Price Trio. Created for the 2008 VoxNovus 60 x 60 Project.

Circus of Fleas

Circus of Fleas is the high-speed three minute scherzo from the third movement of "Trio for Clarinet, Violin and Piano": Vivace.

Fleas

Fleas is the high-speed three minute scherzo from the third movement of "Trio for Clarinet, Violin and Piano": Vivace.

A quark is any member of a group of subatomic particles—the basic building blocks of matter, which make up our universe. Those particles interact by means of extremely strong force. In this case, that force is a musical one! Six different types of quarks can be grouped into three contrasting pairs: up and down, charm and strange, and top and bottom. Three contrasting movements, if you will.
Ah, the musical quark.
This trio of characteristics is represented here by a trio of musicians with very individual characters, whose interactions create their own special universe.

The many notes found in Quarks were initially brought to audiences in 1998 with a slightly different instrumentation. Trio for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano was written using Classical sonata form as a point of departure for a modern tonal and rhythmic palette. Each of the three movements evokes a distinctive mood, just like quarks that swirl and dance and lilt and, in their grace, create something of matter— that matters.

1. Quarks, movt's 1 and 3