String Quartet No. 1 (2020)
8mins
vln, vln, vla, vc
Shortlisted during the 2020 Bartok World Composition Competition.
Premiered 24 November 2021 by the Flinders Quartet at Tempo Rubato, Melbourne.
This First String Quartet is, for me, a more intimate extension of concepts explored in my oboe concerto, Expressions on Solitude. My extrovert and introvert are in constant competition. Secretly, I think introvert wins out - but there's a sort of hollow quality to this quartet, so maybe it's a pyrrhic victory.
Otherwise, I have recently found much enjoyment in writing music without any distinct narrative structure, instead concentrating on form and proportion. This is not to say my work is now suddenly uninspired; indeed, it remains deeply personal. But through exploring processes that are without concrete – or at least authorial – meaning, thus rendering those processes entirely interpretive, one creates a powerful experience for individuals, not just audiences.
While the traditional string quartet is a work of multiple movements, I am content with the First’s length. This is a prologue.
