Sodium (2009, revised without texts 2015)

by Thomas Oboe Lee

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	1.	Sodium Bicarbonate ... Adagio 04:16
	2.	Sodium Chloride ... Allegrissimo 01:52
	3.	Sodium Cyanide ... Adagio 03:54
	4.	Sodium Cyclamate ... Allegro 00:49
	5.	Sodium Pentothal ... Largo 07:12

about

"Sodium, is that the name of your cat?" "Na."

Sodium was originally titled "Jasmine Variations." It was a setting of poems by Jasmine Lin, who is both a superb violinist and a poet. I finished the work but it was never performed. And it sat languishing for years on my shelf, forgotten. Then I had a thought. Maybe the work for practical considerations should be a purely instrumental work, without the texts. With a little nip and tuck, here and there, it is now a bona fide string quartet; my eleventh!!! I did not like the sound of the title, "String Quartet No. 11." So I decided to call it "Sodium." Why? The atomic number for sodium is 11.

The quartet is in five movements.

credits

released April 17, 2016

Liana Branscome, violin
Luther Warren, violin
Abraham Martin, viola
Clare Bradford, cello

Music by Thomas Oboe Lee

© Departed Feathers Music, Inc. - BMI

Recorded in the Fraser Studio @ WGBH
December 7, 2015
Antonio Oliart, audio engineer
Joel Watts, audio editor

Photo credit: Thomas Oboe Lee

YouTube link: youtu.be/jCPlv1q6SYs

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about

Thomas Oboe Lee Cambridge, Massachusetts

Thomas Oboe Lee was born in China in 1945. He lived in São Paulo, Brazil, for six years before coming to the United States in 1966. After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh, he studied composition at the New England Conservatory and Harvard University. He has been a member of the music faculty at Boston College since 1990. ... more

thomasoboelee.com

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