K Complex

Gayageum (Korean plucked string) Quartet, 4m30s

 

After performing my gayageum solo “Sanjo Gayageum Poems,” gayageum performer Baek Seung-Hee asked me to compose for the gayageum quartet with whom she performed at the time, Gayageum Quartet K.  The group was planning a concert themed around Kafka’s unfinished novel “Das Schloss,” the main character of which is referred to simply as “K.”  Not being familiar with the novel, I instead focused on the letter K, creating a motive made up of four musical lines which, when written together on a single staff, make the shape of a letter K.  The hope was that it might become a signature piece of the group.  The four lines of the “K” motive are then treated to a series of motivic variations over the course of the piece.