string quartet no. 4 (2016)

Duration: 17:00

Instrumentation: 2 violins, viola and cello

$30.00
Add To Cart

Premiere: February 1, 2017 at Pendulum New Music Series, UC-Boulder by the Altius Quartet

Click here to listen to a podcast from Colorado Public Radio

String Quartet No. 4 is a compact piece in three continuous movements. The first movement is nervous and constantly shifting, with wisps of ideas swirling around each other. The middle movement begins with shimmering tremolos followed by a strange melody played in the cello’s high natural harmonics. The last movement is a ferocious fugue that builds in intensity until it reaches a kind of crisis and falls apart. In the brief coda, musical ideas from each movement come together and are folded in on themselves until the piece comes to a conclusion.

Notes:

String Quartet No. 4 is a compact piece in three continuous movements. The first movement is nervous and constantly shifting, with wisps of ideas swirling around each other. The middle movement begins with shimmering tremolos followed by a strange melody played in the cello’s high natural harmonics. The last movement is a ferocious fugue that builds in intensity until it reaches a kind of crisis and falls apart. In the brief coda, musical ideas from each movement come together and are folded in on themselves until the piece comes to a conclusion.