Music for String Trio

About

Music For String Trio is a suite of six short movements consisting largely of non-western transcriptions, some dating back almost 1,000 years. It is dedicated to my wife, Shayna.
The first movement owes something to the world of Janaček, and is even based upon a Czech folk tune (which one hears partially disguised towards the end). The second movement is a transcription of a Lithuanian Folk Melody, A-a-a-a mažulyte, which was transcribed from a compact disc of Lithuanian melodies (Lituanie - Le pays des chansons, issued on the "Cocora, Radio France" label, in 1997.).
The third movement is a relatively straight-forward presentation of the Czech folk tune used in the first movement, Hore Černy, initially as a canon. Then it is put into reverse.
The fourth movement is a direct transcription of a Quebecois folk melody as originally played in the 1920s by “Villeneuve and Bouchard,” a violin and accordion duo - later released on the 1985 vinyl LP album, You Can Tell the World About This (Morning Star Records).
The rest of the movement is a mirror image of itself right back to the very beginning.
The fifth movement only lasts around a minute, and is a setting of the medieval melody (anonymously written) of the same name.
The last movement, Shir Ha-Shirim, is a toccata-like distortion of a medieval Jewish setting of a text from the Song of Songs, III / 1, “By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loved; I sought him, but I found him not.”
The Song of Songs is a love-song from God to Israel and vice-versa and it is read at Passover. After a short reprise of the Hore Černy melody returns to the toccata, thereafter quietly dispersing.

– Matthew Davidson