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My first quartet was written in 1992 and in a way I view this as my first complete piece, as not only does it have a secure sense of structure and technique supporting it, but it also has a philosophical reason for coming into being. Writing this work moved my music from the abstract plane to a place where I could begin to musically explore the world and my own place in it, and I chose as a theme for the quartet the idea of Redemption as exemplified in the life of Saint Paul.
The loud, opening chord was in my head for some weeks before I actually began the writing and this and its successors became important motives throughout. There is also something akin to a fate motif, first heard just after the opening viola solo in the first violin and this, too is important in the course of the quartet, returning a number of times altered, but still recognizable.
The title of this piece is related to Paul’s urgent request to his disciple Timothy to visit him “before winter”. Reflection on this request sowed the seeds of my quartet and the more I thought about Paul’s life, aspects of it such as conflict, transformation, solitude and destiny all gave rise to musical ideas which I was then able to mold into a comprehensible single-movement work. The emotional dichotomy between the death Paul knew awaited him (hence the urgency in his request to Timothy), and the hope for what lay beyond that, is reflected in the musical material – at times violent, at times contemplative, but ultimately seeking to reach higher.
In the end, this work is not a depiction of, or even a reflection on the apostle’s life, but that is where the music has its roots.
'Winter’s Edge' was commissioned by the Vanbrugh Quartet with funds from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. The Vanbrugh Quartet recorded the work for CD twice (on Chandos and Black Box).
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Belfast
United Kingdom