FOUR ON THE FLOOR


Listen: FOUR ON THE FLOOR

Performed By: Curtis Macomber, violin; Norman Fischer, cello; Deborah Dunham, bass; and Jeanne Fischer, piano

Instrumentation:
Violin, cello, double bass, piano

Duration: 5 minutes 30 seconds

Commissioned By:
Minneapolis Artists Ensemble

Premiere:
Premiered by the Minneapolis Arts Ensemble at the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center on March 6, 1983.

Available From:
Oxford University Press #9780193861305. Distributed by Goodmusic Publishing.

Composer's Notes:

Four on the Floor is inspired by boogie-woogie.  It is a celebration of American music and American musicians.  The metronome indication for Four on the Floor is 138-144 to the quarter note, a speed verging on breakneck, and breakneck is the theme of the piece an America that is speeding up faster and faster, jazzing into eternity.

After a short three-bar introduction, the boogie beat is laid down by the piano.  Its characteristic use of triplets and a "walking bass" in the left hand continues throughout the piece.  A jazzy pizzicato phrase for the three string instruments leads into a slightly slower section which features dialogue between the strings (playing in rhythmic unison) and the piano.  A restatement of the earlier material is combined with a "ripping" riff.

Breathless solos for each instrumentalist bring Four on the Floor to a boisterous conclusion.

- Libby Larsen, 1983

Score Errata:
Piano Part Errata

Measure 78: Last Beat, RH, Last Chord - The A should be an A#

Measures 118 and 121: LH should have C#-B to D-C. It should match measure 116.

Measure 128: LH, third note should be a B.

Measure 149: LH, last note should be a C.

Measure 183: RH, first beat, last sixteenth-note should be a Bb.

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