Telegram to the President is an epigrammatic work commissioned by the Kronos Quartet. It is in the form of a prelude, fugue, and coda. The prelude feature sthe computer as an imaginary soloist, while the fugue focuses attention on the quartet.

Time and time again, I have found myself drawn to musical reflection on political and social issues. Telegram was written in bitter disappointment in the 1984 re-election of Ronald Reagan by a complacent American public. Yet, in contrast to this tone of indictment, the content of the telegram is a message of hope, a gentle faith in the continuing vitality of the grass roots American spirit. The text of the telegram, is taken from the 1933 poem of Langston Hughes: "Oh, let America be America again."

The computer part features an innovative plucked string synthesis technique developed by the composer in conjunction with Julius Smith, Kevin Karplus, and Alex Strong. It was realized at CCRMA, Stanford University using the Systems Concepts Digital Synthesizer.

AVAILABLE ON CD: The Jefferson String Quartet, CDCM Vol. 8