Tom Smail
String Quartet No.1
Duration: 25'
Instrumentation details:
violin I
violin II
viola
violoncello
String Quartet No.1
Translation, reprints and more
Tom Smail
String Quartet No.1
Available digitally
Orchestration: For Alba
Type: Dirigierpartitur
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Work introduction
Rhythmical, jaunty spikiness meets slow, plangent, pastoral lyricism. The slow movement was written first (the second movement) and was inspired by my delight in the call of the wood pigeon. See what I mean?
Commissioned by the Nicholas Boas Charitable Trust and the Meyer Foundation, it was premièred in 2009 by the Solstice Quartet (whose recording you can hear excerpts of here and whose video you can see on YouTube). It was later taken up by the Allegri Quartet.