A Child in the House of the Storyteller
Copyright: 1989
A Child in the House of the Storyteller (1989) is based upon a story written by the composer's sister, Susan Bernofsky. In the story, a young girl finds herself in an Alice-in-Wonderland-style fantasy, an endlessly large house filled with one strange scene after another, which she explores over the course of the story. The piece was originally written as a string quartet with a "hidden" program, and at the suggestion of curious audience members, a narrator was later added. The composer uses a wide palette of string techniques, including non-vibrato, bowed and plucked glissandi, ponticello, and knocking on the body of the instrument (in this case, in imitation of a clock).