Part 2

"Telegram to the President, 1984" is an epigrammatic work for string quartet and computer-generated tape, commissioned by the Kronos Quartet. It is in the form of a prelude, fugue, and coda. The prelude features the computer as an imaginary soloist, while the fugue focuses attention on the quartet. The recorded excerpt is from the fugue and is performed by the Jefferson String Quartet. 

The title refers to my disappointment in the 1984 re-election of Ronald Reagan by a complacent American public. Yet, in contrast to this tone of indictment, the content of the telegram is a message of hope, a gentle faith in the continuing vitality of the grass roots American spirit. The text of the telegram, is taken from the 1933 poem of Langston Hughes: "Oh, let America be America again.

The computer part features an innovative plucked string synthesis technique developed by the composer in conjunction with Julius Smith, Kevin Karplus, and Alex Strong. It was realized at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, Stanford University using the Systems Concepts Digital Synthesizer.

This work is available on CD. For more information, please visit jaffe.com

Telegram to the President

David A Jaffe

Recent comments

djmips

squirrel jam zombie banjo

Related tracks