Caroline Mallonee
You can now purchase String Tunes! This is a collection of solos and small ensemble pieces. The title is descriptive: some of these pieces are in just intonation; most of the movements are played scordatura (retuned); and some of the music is inspired by fiddle tunes. Buy the CD, order the printed music for solo violin, or buy the CD/score bundle!
Buffalo Chamber Players perform music by Caroline Mallonee for retuned string instruments.
The CD is out! Stream it here!
Many of the pieces fall into the category of “Finger Music,” a term I use for music that is about the left hand: one finger pattern is repeated on different strings. Because the “Finger Music” pieces are left-hand conceptions, many of these pieces can be played on violin, viola, or cello.
I began String Tunes while in residence at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire in 2006. I wanted to have music to share with the other artists-in-residence, so I started making music for myself to play on the violin. At the end of my residency, I presented a recital for my fellow colonists; this was the first performance of some of the String Tunes. Composing these pieces was unusually visceral for me — it was about the feel of the violin, the fingers on the fingerboard, natural harmonics, open strings, and easy double stops. It was about having fun with finger patterns. Notating the pieces came after I had worked them out on the instrument. I have since added many more solos, a few duos and trios and one quartet.
Most of the solos are named for where each piece was begun: Morning Porch (MacDowell) was written on the porch of my studio at the MacDowell Colony; Chapman was another studio I stayed in at MacDowell; Dublin, New Hampshire, where I teach in the summers at The Walden School; Lehmann House, on the Walden campus; Prospect is named for Prospect Park, just blocks from an apartment I was subletting in Brooklyn; Crescent Avenue, where I lived when I first moved to Buffalo; Bidwell is named for Bidwell Parkway, just outside Buffalo Seminary where the trio was premiered.
These pieces have been performed by many soloists across the country, including Janz Castelo, Miranda Cuckson, Ruben Khodeli, Salley Koo, Natasha Farny, Amy Glidden, Ha-Yang Kim, Sumire Kudo, Martha Muehleisen, Duane Padilla, Megan Prokes, Miranda Sielaff, and Loren Silvertrust. “The Butterfly Effect” was commissioned by The Walden School for the Spektral Quartet, and has since been played by Mivos Quartet, Clara Quartet, Artemis Quartet, the Buffalo Chamber Players, and the Locrian Chamber Players, who named it the winner in their 2015 call for scores. It has also been performed at the Roycroft Chamber Music Festival, at Shenandoah University, and at National Sawdust. Performance materials are available here. Violin students of Dr. Rebecca Henry at the Peabody Preparatory recorded many of the solo pieces in 2021. New Music USA provided a project grant for Buffalo Chamber Players to record the entire set of String Tunes.
