Cantus
Browse Works
Instrumentation
Cello
1
Clarinet
1
Flute
1
Violin
1
Additional Information
Cantus was originally written in 1983 and was revised in 2012. It is a quartet for flute, clarinet, violin and cello and lasts just over 5 minutes.
It was originally written for the group Gemini in the UK who gave the work its first public performance. The medieval term Cantus means ‘song’ or ‘melody’ and is used here to describe a free development of short melodic phrases. The piece starts calmly in the high register of the instruments, and during the course of the work, the pitch gradually moves downwards whilst the mood becomes more agitated. It finishes, however, in a mood of jubilation.
