Work

Programme Note

This work for String Quartet consists of four short movements, the titles of which are taken from poems by Janet Frame: The Icicles, The Stones, Moss and The Birch Trees. Each one is a kind of natural miniature, exploring stillness and the simple beauty of quiet sounds, and underpinned by a sense of gentle unease. The Icicles is a fragile, intimate movement without development, tiny fragments of tune colouring the sparse soundscape. The Stones sets up an insistent, pulsing rhythm that hints at the sustained violence to come in Moss, a much denser, edgier beast, a breaking point before the calm. In the final movement, the action is brought back to a quiet nostalgia, recalling the delicate, frail harmonies of the opening. The work as a whole owes much to the aesthetics of John Cage’s String Quartet in Four Parts and to Janet Frame’s virtuosic portrayal of New Zealand landscape.

Difficulty:

Advanced

Influences:

• Landscape - NZ
• Language and Literature

Performance History

	01 Sep 2008	Performed by MusicSpace Quartet at the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Devonport, in Auckland
	01 Jul 2008	Performed by Yid-Ee Goh (vln I), Sophie Bird (vln II), Emma Fetherston (vla), Charley Davenport (vc). (Conductor Michael Norris). An extended extract of the performance captured as part of the documentary The CANZ Nelson Composers Workshop: Inside the Incubator
	20 Sep 2009	Performed Cameron Stanley (violin), Alex Taylor (violin), Alex MacDonald (viola) and Cameron Stuart (cello) at the Music Theatre, University of Auckland in Auckland
	23 May 2010	Performed by the DSCH String Quartet (Alex Taylor, Emily Bouwhuis, Alex MacDonald and Rachel Wells) at The Depot Artspace, Devonport, Auckland.
	27 Jun 2010	Broadcast on “Young New Zealand” on Radio New Zealand Concert. Performed by Cameron Stanley (violin), Alex Taylor (violin), Alex MacDonald (viola) and Cameron Stuart (cello)