Intricate Web

Instrumentation

Cello
1
Viola
1
Violin 1
1
Violin 2
1

Additional Information

Intricate Web was commissioned by the Bromsgrove Mixing Music Festival in 2003 (the year of my father’s death) and it was the first piece I wrote specifically for the Fitzwilliam Quartet. A photograph of a spider’s web was used as source material to generate a strange melodic line (heard most clearly at 0:28) around which the whole quartet is based. At first the mood is eerie as the quartet explores the territory of the web, sometimes finding moments of warmth and peace. But eventually it becomes clear that we are trapped within a finite web, and cannot escape our ultimate destiny.

 

In 3 movements:

I. Clefts and fissures of bark

II. Winter branches

III. Leaf

 

Details

String Quartet No. 3
Year
Publisher
Composers Edition
Minutes
11

Recordings

Date published
2017
Date recorded
2016
Performers
Fitzwilliam String Quartet
Record company
Divine Art Records
Title
Intricate Web - Liz Johnson - double album
Venue
St Martins, East Woodhay