Composer's notes: This piece came about in a rather unusual way. I had a dream i...(+)
Composer's notes: This
piece came about in a
rather unusual way. I had
a dream in which a string
quartet were playing some
very beautiful music. I
was exhorting them to
'play it like late
Beethoven' When I woke
up, I could not remember
any themes or details of
what they had been
playing, but had an
intense memory of the
'feeling' of the music,
which was soft, sensual
and muted, and I
immediately sat down to
write a string quartet.
What began to emerge was
nothing like Beethoven at
all, and very early into
the writing I had a
strong vision of some
people dancing a formal
and intense series of
dances in a village in a
very dry and hot
landscape - the
Australian outback or
Africa maybe. The dances
were very moving, with an
inward, ritualistic
quality and they
obviously had great
meaning for the people
performing them. Geoffrey
Burgon