Work Overview
This string quartet, my third, was commissioned by the Tasmanian Chapter of the Australian Society for Music Education in 1978 and it was done with assistance from the Tasmanian Arts Advisory Board. It has a dedication to Jan and Beryl Sedivka.
The first movement, marked Introduction and "vigoroso" is for the most part quite vigorous, it is swift and fleeting and it has precisely felt silences as sort of interjections. It is introductory in character by virtue of putting forward specific ideas to be taken up in later movements.
The second movement Air and marked "con affeto", has an elusive quality due in part I think to the struggle to reconcile four independent ideas which are also quite disparate introduced by the four separate instruments. The overall feeling is one of lyricism.
The Finale is again swift and fleeting but more mellow and delicate than the first movement. A particular feature of its style is "sprung rhythm" to use a term by Michael Tippet or, if you like, it has strong cross accents as a feature. In the winding down coda which is quite brief there is a passing reference to a main motive of the introduction.
Work Details
Year: 1978
Instrumentation: 2 violins, viola, cello.
Duration: 15 min.
Contents note: I. Introduction -- II. Air -- III. Finale.
Dedication note: Dedicated to Jan Sedivka, Beryl Sedivka
Commission note: Commissioned by Australian Society for Music Education with funds provided by Tasmanian Arts Advisory Board.
First performance: by Petra String Quartet — 1979. Hong Kong
Videos
String quartet no. 3 |
Performances of this work
1979: Hong Kong. Featuring Petra String Quartet.
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