String Quartet No.4

Small & Great Distances

2024
25 mins
string quartet

Premiere: 7 July 2024
Darlington Town Hall
Darlington Quartet

Programme Note

The title acted as a springboard that informed the melodic, harmonic and rhythmic materials as well as mood. For example, it might mean taking a chord and writing it in its most compact form and then stretching out vertically so there are several octaves between the top and bottom voice. This could also apply to a melody, where a small and chromatic line is shifted over several octaves causing it to leap every which way. It might also mean taking a constant rhythmic pulse and stretching or shrinking it, so that the space between the pulse expands and contracts. Finally, it might mean a contrast or extreme range in mood, and this is very clear in the 1st movement.
1. Selfie with Angels and Devils. This has three distinct sections of material. The ‘angel’ music is homophonic and played softly in the high register as harmonics. Conversely, the ‘devil’ music, whilst still homophonic, is brutal, low and loud. The remaining material is quite mischievous: the two violins play a figure of 15 semiquavers while the cello and viola play a pattern of 16, meaning that that fall increasingly out of sync with each other.
2. The Song of The Well-Worn Road is very lyrical with a verse/chorus-like structure. The four instruments share roles as melody or accompaniment. There is a lot of elasticity in the pulsing but this movement has quite a simple premise: to portray the routine and perhaps drudgery of travelling along the same path – as we all might do when we drive to work or walk the dog and so on. There is a sense of bittersweetness about this movement.
3. A Small Object on a Long, Long Journey. Here the quartet is treated as one instrument and muted throughout. The music was inspired by multiple images: of a small object floating through space, of a single cell pulsing through a vein and even an electron in a circuit. The quartet work their way to a climactic middle moment – where the chords are now vertically stretched apart. The music then proceeds to splinter apart before coming back together at the end.
4.Drifting Apart has two contrasting musical ideas: It opens with gnarly fragments spread over several octaves. This fuses into a highly energetic music that is punctuated by two rapid fire chords. The silence between these chords then expands and contract and expands again and it is here that the process of the title can be heard quite clearly. The second section is a slow chorale in the viola and cello. The viola lags behind the cello by one semiquaver of each new note of the chorale, eventually landing four bars behind. The music feels literally like it is drifting apart. The highly charged music returns to end with a flourish

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