Emily Koh's Quartet 20

Image source: http://www.emilykoh.blogspot.com


Earlier the week, on 12 Aug 2007, I was privileged to attend the concert, Motif Two, held at Esplanade Recital Studio, at 7.30 p.m. Many thanks to Emily for the complimentary ticket. The evening's concert was put up by alumni members of the Temasek Junior College's Music Elective Programme. This year, Temasek Junior College celebrates 30 years of college-building and 20 years of music making.

What significance does it have to know a bit about the history of Temasek Junior College?

Emily Koh's Quartet 20 is written in celebration of th 20th anniversary of the founding of the Music Elective Programme at Temasek Junior College. According to the programme notes, the work "aims to portray the fine achievements of the programme since its establishment 20 years ago".

Well, if you would like to listen to Emily's Quartet 20, then check out Emily's official webhome, and browse under "Audio" and look for "qtet20". For your convenience, here is the direct URL: http://kompobassist.multiply.com/music. (Note: You will have to be a member of Multiply.com to access the audio files. )

I particularly like the multi-percussion parts of Quartet 20. Somehow, the percussion lends a very nice colour and texture to the entire work. Honestly speaking, while I thought the concepts behind the composition was interesting, I could not understand the work just by listening to it for one time. During the concert, I was trying hard to listen out for the perfect fourths, and my ears have yet to have enough practice to identify the perfect fourths easily.

By the way, Emily could consider designing in addition to composing. She did the programme booklet for the concert.

More photos from Emily's blog below to entice you to attend future Motif concerts:

Credits: Slides by Emily, from Emily's blog.