Romantic Ode for String Orchestra with solo violin, viola, and cello

1976

12 minutes

Chamber Music Conference of the East

August 28, 1976, Bennington College, Vermont, Chamber Music Conference of the East, Joel Berman, solo violin, Jacob Glick, solo viola, Ralph Oxman, solo cello

Gunmar Music, Inc.

Available on demo CD

Fine returned to her earlier and less complex style for Romantic Ode. It was commissioned by the Chamber Music Conference and Composers Forum of East, and Fine took this opportunity to write her lyric contrapuntal lines, which are so successful for strings. At first the solo trio is accompanied by the string orchestra, but later the two merge and become a massed ensemble, a sound that Fine enjoys: “I like that luscious, full string sound…. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as having all the strings…playing at once.”

–Heidi Von Gunden, The Music of Vivian Fine, Scarecrow Press, 1999