String quartet (String
Quartet) - difficult
SKU: HL.49018856
[COPYRIGHT RETURNED TO
COMPOSER]. Composed
by Edward Cowie. This
edition: Saddle
stitching. Sheet music.
String. Softcover. 76
pages. Duration 15'.
Schott Music #ED13391.
Published by Schott Music
(HL.49018856).
ISBN
9790220133244. UPC:
884088675028.
9.0x12.0x0.204
inches.
Although
this is technically
Cowie's seventh string
quartet, it replaces his
earlier fourth quartet,
which he came to feel no
longer fit with his
compositional voice. The
quartet fluctuates
between a slow, luminous
sound and fast, agitated
music. Unlike much of
Cowie's work, this music
is abstracted from his
usual preoccupation with
the natural world,
turning instead to look
at an inner landscape.
The composer describes
the emotional force
behind his quartet: The
year 2009 was a terrible
year in which I lost
three close friends to
cancer and an elder
brother to Alzheimer's
disease. It was also a
year in which my wife was
diagnosed with breast
cancer; something from
which she has thankfully
made a great recovery. At
times like these,
emotions are sorely
tested and highlighted.
Four people I loved have
gone, so this music must
remain as testament not
to death, but to the
magnificent fragility and
loveliness of life. It
closes with a gentle and
almost vaporising
'benediction' a kind of
'amen' if you like.