Category Archives: Works

String Quartet (2004)

Duration: c. 16 minutes  (two movements are currently being revised)

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The first movement (2003) of this String Quartet was first performed by the Artea Quartet (Thomas Gould,Rhys Watkins, Benjamin Roskams, Ashok Klouda) at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester on 10th January 2004, as part of the International String Quartet Festival, QuartetFest 2004. It was given its London Premiere in the Duke’s Hall, Royal Academy of Music, on April 23rd 2004 as part of the OmaggioFestival celebrating the life and music of Luciano Berio.  The complete quartet (2006) was given its world premiere by The Duke Quartet at The Wigmore Hall, Wigmore Street, London, on 5th December 2006, and performed again in the following days at The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh and The Gate, Cardiff.

The first movement of this quartet can be performed on its own, but the other movements should only be played as part of the complete quartet.

The first movement (2004) is dedicated to Rizwan Ifrahim.

Listeners’ Note

I – Wildly, folk-like (c. 8’30”)

II – Steady, relaxed (c. 4’15”)

III – Fast, nervous (c. 2’20”)

This piece, my first String Quartet, divulges all of its music within the striking, folkish viola solo at the very beginning.  All three movements begin with the same gesture, and each has similar elements of violence and lyricism, but the first movement is far more organic and freely flowing than the later movements.  The music moves through several different harmonic and rhythmic zones, always carried by a continuation of the passionate opening viola melody.  A faster, more violent central section, characterised by stabbing chords and aggressive rising figures, breaks down to a broad and pained melody, blurred between the upper strings.  Finally, a more reflective and sinuous coda returns the viola melody back to its home.

In contrast, the nature of both the second and third movements is far more mechanical and single-minded than the first. The second movement is almost hypnotic in its repetitive use of a rising scale.  As the scale is passed around and varied, elements of the first movement are brought to bear: long, winding melodies high up in the cello and an intense violin solo towards the end.  The third movement is a relentless but brief moto perpetuo, drawing out motivic elements from the first movement and transforming them into mechanical patterns.  The violence, stabbing chords and the rapid unison crescendi make up the fabric of this concluding movement, and over the top of the constant buzzing energy, the upper strings re-frame melodies from the first movement in a new context, returning the music to the unison A-flat that started the work.

For more information about this piece, contact UYMP.