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Reeves, C. Fireworks Physonect Siphonphore, (String Quartet No.1)

Fireworks Physonect Siphonophore, String Quartet No.1 (2009)

Commissioned by the Quatuor Danel. Published by Edition Peters (EP72433), ii+20. Duration: 7 minutes. Premiere: Quatuor Danel, Manchester, April 2009. Repeated at Manchester Grammar School, April 2009.

Hans Keller said that a quartet is only as good as, ‘the number of solos, duos and trios it contains’. Britten responded with his Third Quartet. Whilst I don’t agree with this analysis, the fundamental problem that it identifies is correct. With a string quartet you have four individuals that maintain their individuality whilst forming something larger. The problem lies in allowing both to flourish, which is not compositionally straightforward. Siphonophores (see notes in score) raise a similar ontological paradox as to whether each organism constitutes a single individual or many, and my interest in these animals provided a useful metaphor for addressing the problem. In this quartet, simple melodic cells are extended into chains of non-octave scales and sequences (similar to the chains of cells that form siphonophores). These interlock to create compound patterns across the ensemble. An analogous process is applied to rhythm. The aim is for a mode of listening in which one perceives individual lines whilst also hearing the compound lines they form. Combining multiple lines to form a contrapuntal texture has a long tradition in music, but the resultant texture itself comprising an individual line is a more recent development. (Carter uses this technique, but my particular point-of-reference was my colleague Richard Whalley’s Interlocking Melodies of 2007.) My quartet also explores the combination of organic and inorganic modes of transition between tempi. The progression from MM=112 to MM=168 is always organic, by means of accelerandi. The reverse, MM=168 to MM=112, is always abrupt and inorganic. This relationship between organic and inorganic modes of transition became the central concept of my second quartet.