Goldner Variation (2023)

Duration ca. 1' 00" 

This work is a short variation on the Ode to Joy theme from Beethoven's 9th Symphony, for the Goldner String Quartet's 2024 version of the Goldner Variations. These were initially a set of 25 variations on Ode to Joy commissioned from 25 Australian Composers for the quartet's 25th Anniversary in 2019. To celebrate their 30th and final year, 5 more variations including this one were added in 2024. 

The full set contains variations by: Joe Chindamo, Audrey Ormella, Maria Grenfell, Clare Strong, John Peterson, Paul Dean, Robert Davidson, Andrew Schultz, Mark Isaacs, Matthew Hindson, Olivia Diamant, Andrew Ford, Hayden Gardiner, Adriel Sukumar, Ross Edwards, Harry Sdraulig, Nigel Westlake, Liza Lim, Iain Grandage, Paul Stanhope, Jakub Jankowski, Brett Dean, Tim Jayatilaka, Elena Kats-Chernin, Elizabeth Younan, Paul Grabowsky, Nicole Murphy, Holly Harrison, Natalie Williams, and Carl Vine. 

This Variation was premiered by the Goldner String Quartet on 09.03.2024 at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the full 2024 version of the Goldner Variations was subsequently premiered at the Adelaide Festival on 16.03.2024. This variation splits the Ode to Joy theme into its four phrases, each represented on this score by approximately a system. The melodic material from each phrase is subsequently fragmented and transposed as necessary to create a complex polyphonic texture within the ensemble.