Brihadaranyaka

for String Quartet
on a purpose-selected tone row

Op.93

for
Christopher Weaver,
who made it possible

1. Prajapati. Grave.
2. Madhu. Allegretto.
3. Yajñavalka. Allegro molto.
4. Moksha. Largo.
5. Khila Khanda. Prestissimo.
6. Brahman. Gravissimo.
Date Duration Download
24 February 2025 12'05" Realization (.MP3) Score (.PDF)
11.0 MB 489 KB

Another quick, little bagatelle to cleanse the sound palette after the Drang of the 3rd piano concerto. It came quickly, because fully 50% of the movements are in ponderous tempi: Grave, Largo, and Gravissimo. Also, there appear to actually be two Scherzi in this little piece, neither of which is in 3/4 time. No extra charge.

For the uninitiated, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is one of the noblest and most ancient Hindu scriptures:

Ah, Maitreyi, my beloved, the Intelligence which reveals all - by what shall it be revealed? By whom shall the knower be known? The Self is described as not this, not that. It is incomprehensible, for it cannot be comprehended; undecaying, for it never decays; unattached, for it is never bound. By whom, o my Beloved, shall the knower be known?
1. Prajapati, a form of the creator-god Brahma
2. Madhu, which is honey, a metaphor for the interconnectedness of all life
3. Yajñavalka, (9th c. BCE) whose dialogues on empirical knowledge define this chapter
4. Moksha, Liberation
5. Khila Khanda, Appendices of later scholars
6. Brahman, the ground of all being.

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