String quartet - Difficult SKU: OU.9780193577671
Composed by William Mathias. String Quartets. Score and parts. 108 pages. Duration 29'. Oxford University Press #9780193577671. Published by Oxford University Press (OU.9780193577671). ISBN 9780193577671. 12 x 8 inches.
Mathias' third and final quartet was commissioned by the 1986 Harrogate International Festival and premiered there in August that year by the Medici Quartet. It has three movements: the first takes the form of a sonata, the second starts off as mysterious and lyrical and moves into a fiery climax, and the third uses exciting fugal passages and 'scherzando' sections, which make for a thrilling conclusion.