composer
Michael Fine has a degree in English Literature from the State University of New York. Despite having no formal music education, he has an active international career in several aspects ...
related works
Afternoon Trio : for flute, viola and harp / Michael Fine
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Mixed ensemble (2-12 players)
Scoring:
fl vla hp
Duo : for violin and cello / Bram Kortekaas
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Mixed ensemble (2-12 players)
Scoring:
vn vc
Annette définitivement nue : pour ensemble / Piet-Jan van Rossum
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Mixed ensemble (2-12 players)
Scoring:
pic pno-4 4vl vla vc tub
Violin Concerto : for violin and 5 percussion players / Maxim Shalygin
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Mixed ensemble (2-12 players)
Scoring:
vn-solo 5perc
composition
Skipping Stones : for flute and string quintet / Michael Fine
Description:
I began to compose in 2013 when my wife was diagnosed with a blood cancer. She suggested that I needed a creative outlet to help me deal with our new situation. Places, events, memories, and people always triggered a musical response but I never had the time or inclination to put them to paper.
My first attempt was a string quartet with the oxymoronic title ‘Dutch Tango.’ My next composing moment came on a train as I was traveling to recording sessions from my home in Rotterdam to France. Looking out the window as the train crossed a particularly beautiful body of water, I remembered playing ‘skipping stones’ as a child wherever there was the happy concurrence of water and flat stones. By the time I crossed the French border, the piece was sketched.
The music might evoke other images or none at all: for me it is a happy memory of youth and those long days in the summer holidays. All the instruments get to skip stones: in the fourth bar, the bass finds a particularly good stone with a pizzicato toss on the waters. But the flute takes the lead: the perfect instrument to play the game and remember playing the game, for its ease in skipping all over the musical staff, its range of colors, and its reed pipe origin in nature.
Somewhat shyly, I sent the piece to Scott Yoo and Alice Dade who quickly responded with enthusiasm. I’m happy to say that my wife is in remission and that I continue to write music.
Michael Fine, February 2016