In Memoriam: George Finckel

1987

6 minutes

Four cellos or multiples thereof

September 13, 1987, Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont. The composer conducted an ensemble of 16 cellos: Elizabeth Brunton, Thomas Calabro, Joan Esch, Chris Finckel, David Finckel, Michael Finckel, Connie Gordon, Maxine Neuman, Robert Nowak, William Peck, Ingrid Porter, Michael Severens, Jared Shapiro, Martha Siegel and Jennifer Weiss

George Finckel was Fine’s longtime colleague at Bennington. He performed many of her compositions, and his cello class was the inspiration for her Missa Brevis. The first section is a sustained adagio, while the second has a texture change to bowed tremolo harmonics. The piece ends with a recapitulation of the first section, to which Fine added an expressive line resembling the “Lacrymosa (Weeping)” movement from Missa Brevis.

–adapted from Heidi Von Gunden, The Music of Vivian Fine, Scarecrow Press, 1999