Overture To Gratitude

Category: Strings

String Quintet

Level: Advanced
Duration: 4:05

Copyright © 2022 Juan G. García

PDF – Sheet Music, Page 1

The string quintet “Overture To Gratitude” was written at the behest of Anissa Arnold in 2005 and was completed on April 20th after 5 weeks. Her intention was for her middle school orchestra in the Herricks School District (Long Island, NY) to perform it. It was meant to be a challenging piece but still with in the limits of a very good 7th & 8th grade middle school string orchestra.

I wrote the thematic 4-measure entrance on Viola because she is a violist. This composition was inspired by and dedicated to her in thanks for all of her help and support she gave me in finding extra employment during my efforts to purchase my first house. ”Overture To Gratitude” seemed a most appropriate title. It is neo-classical in style and contains a short canonic section. Its march-like quality, however, contains many time signature changes and the expressive marking of “Joyful, Noble and Proud” is felt throughout the piece.

”Overture To Gratitude” was later recorded in Bogota, Colombia at Audiovisión Recording Studios. The recording engineer, Mauricio Cano, had earlier won a Grammy Award for his work in the US with the popular Latin band Miami Sound Machine. I brought the Pro Tools recording back home to NY and had it mixed and mastered at SONY BMG in NYC by Todd Whitelock, who had previously recorded Yo Yo Ma.