w431
| Title | It's not the Bs' Fault |
| Contributors |
Derek Ball (composer) |
| Composition date | 2001 2001 rev 2008 |
| Duration (mins) | 2 |
| Category | chamber quartet string |
| Instrumentation | 4 Gu [1 is 8-string] |
| Commissioned by | |
| Key signature | |
| First line | |
| First performed | 10 02 2002 Dublin Guitar Quartet Bank of Ireland Arts Centre, Dublin |
| Notes | * 1 Gu is 8-string |
| Programme Note | I wrote this piece especially for the Dublin Guitar Quartet, which explains the inclusion of an 8-string guitar. They premièred it at a lunchtime concert in the Bank of Ireland Arts Centre in February 2002. For quartet without the luxury of an 8-string guitar, it is possible to play the part on an ordinary 6-string guitar by simply ignoring the 8va bassa signs where they occur, but of course this should be a last resort. Within a short space, the piece manages a sort of multiple variation form, in which several separate ideas are simultaneously varied and merged with one another. The story of how the piece got its name is typically quirky. I was struggling with an over-elaborate arrangement for guitar orchestra that I'd made of one of my pieces, and the group's director was commenting that the note B was coming through rather too strongly. I replied, in total innocence, "It's not the Bs' fault". I had meant that the technical problem was elsewhere, but I had inadvertently stumbled on a more fundamental truth. The smirks on the faces of some of the players gave me an important lesson I'll never forget : that when things go wrong, the fault must lie somewhere, but it's usually not with those poor Bs! |
This work is associated with the following collection items:
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