Work
String Quartet No. 8
for string quartet
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About
Dated 6th December, 1934, String Quartet No. 8 in A major was most likely read through by the string quartet with which Hill was associated at that time, though no evidence of a public performance or recording has been found. The late Cedric Ashton, cellist in that quartet, told the publisher Allan Stiles that he remembered playing through the 1930s quartets during their regular rehearsals. It would seem that from this quartet onwards, Hill had found a vehicle to explore a new-found harmonic idiom, no doubt influenced by the European impressionists, whose sound-world would have undergone some time lag before entering the mainstream of musical taste in Australasia. While he continued to maintain a more conventional style for his 'public' works, this genre enabled Hill some scope for experimentation, with the music remaining unheard by the public. He commented in a television interview in 1957 that his heavily impressionistic Quartet No. 11 remained his favourite work of the genre. Quartet No. 8 is unified by thematic ideas and is clearly conceived as a complete entity.
Donald Maurice
from Alfred Hill - String Quartets Vol. 2, NAXOS
Contents note
I. Allegro deciso - Andante
II. Intermezzo
III. Andante
IV. Finale: Allegro
Performance history
16 Mar 2010: Dominion String Quartet on The Terrace
30 Aug 2010: Dominion String Quartet in Christchurch
Performed by Yury Gezentsvey (violin), Rosemary Harris (violin), Donald Maurice (viola) and David Chickering (cello) at the Expressions Theatre, Upper Hutt.