String Quartet (I)
(2002-03)
Duration: ca. 18’ 30”
Since the 1990s, beginning with pieces
such as Three Short Pieces (1994) (for alto
flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and
percussion), my music began to embrace
a much wider range of musical content,
and rely less on a single idea or
‘monolithic’ form. In these pieces,
including the String Quartet, many short,
sometimes rapidly contrasting sections of
music are used, often heard only
fleetingly, a kind of musical tapestry.
However, these sections are related in
some way — harmonically and/or
melodically. Although this approach may
be seen as being in some way
‘postmodern’, or even as a type of
‘cinematic’ technique, it can perhaps best
be described as a set of ‘continuous
variations.’ The brevity of many of these
sections of music also reflects a debt to
the early, miniature works of the Austrian
composer Anton Webern.
The String Quartet is in four movements,
which are played without a pause. They all
share a four-note musical figure (i.e., D, E,
F, G), informed in part by the violin writing
at the opening of Corelli’s Trio Sonata, Op.
3, No. 2. This figure is used throughout the
work, in a wide variety of musical settings,
and subjected to many transformations.
At the beginning of the first movement, it
is heard as it slowly unfolds, both
melodically and harmonically. It is heard
again in the fast, somewhat agitated
second movement, as a canon between
the two violins. In the third movement, it
is presented in a variety of lyrical ways.
The final movement starts in the manner
of the second, fast movement, but
gradually transforms into a tranquil and
floating texture, and the original material
is heard in its simplest ascending melodic
form, played in the upper register by the
first violin and cello. The String Quartet
was premiered by the Blue Engine String
Quartet in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 2003.