Programme Note Rufus was written to commemorate the 90th birthday of Rufus Guinchard, one of Newfoundland's best-known traditional fiddlers. The work incorporates six of Rufus' tunes: Pretty Little Mary, Traveller's Reel, Parson's Pond Jig, Uncle Harry's Out of Shape, Out Behind the House and Up the Southern Shore. My work is intended to do homage to Rufus' music and the great tradition of fiddling in the province. I hope my work expresses the joy of that tradition and the unbridled exhuberance of Rufus' playing. Rufus Guinchard died in September, 1990, the day after his 91st birthday. The work is dedicated to members of the Atlantic String Quartet.

REVIEWS 1. The Performance in Halifax, November 5, 1989. The Chronicle-Herald, November 6, 1989: Stephen Pedersen. Two modern works, The Final Silence, by Halifax composer Robert Bauer, and a tribute to Newfoundland fiddler Rufus Guinchard by Michael Parker, were played with a good deal of energy and finesse. Parker's Rufus is a clever setting of jigs and reels in which the spirited pace and style of the traditional music is anticipated in a baroque-like introduction. Like all of Parker's work, the musical lines are well knit and carefully structured. 2. The Performance in St. John's, October 24, 1997. The Evening Telegram, October 26, 1997: Glenn Colton The first half of the program featured three works by Canadians: Specht's String Quartet on Korean Themes, Croall's A Long Night's Journey into Day, and [Michael] Parker's Rufus, Op. 41 (sic). My personal choice of these was Parker's Rufus, a lively adaptation for string quartet of several traditional Newfoundland tunes by the great fiddler Rufus Guinchard. It is often said that a composer's reworking of existing music can be judged on the basis of a couple of fundamental questions: Does the new work preserve the spirit or essence of the original? And does the new work enhance the original or cause the listener to hear the original music in a new way? Parker's piece may be deemed a success on both counts. While the beautiful simplicity of the traditional melodies and the rhythmic vitality of Newfoundland fiddle music were maintained, Parker's interpretation for string quartet added a richness of texture and contrapuntal interest which was highly effective. 3. The Performance in Victoria, BC, August, 2002. Times-Colonist, August, 2002: Deryk Barker Newfoundland composer Michael Parker's Rufus ... composed for string quartet ... was performed by string orchestra for the first time on Friday. This was a superbly vital, exuberant, even earthy performance; and although nobody actually took up Simons's invitation to get up and dance, I suspect many were tempted. Rufus should become a standard of the Canadian string orchestra repertoire.