Aristotle

For baritone and string quartet. Text: Billy Collins. A piece for baritone and string quartet can, legitimately, be nothing more — or nothing less — than a song group, or cycle, with the strings standing in for the more usual piano. But if you're awarded the privilege of making music for a singing actor of the caliber of Thomas Hampson, and for young musicians of the caliber of the Jupiter Quartet, you want to compose a piece that's both a substantial monologue and a structurally rewarding string quartet at the same time. Billy Collins' Aristotle is built in three long but continuous sections, each spinning numerous, surprising variations on some necessary (to the philosopher) element of drama — beginning, middle, end. — Mark Adamo