String Quartet No.1 (1993)

Date of composition: 1993; Duration: 22’00; Commissioning body: Maggini String Quartet; Premiere performance: 7 September 1993, Rye Festival, UK; Premiere performers: Maggini String Quartet; Publisher: Eleanor Alberga

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Eleanor writes:

“The three string quartets were all written within an eight-year period between 1993 and 2001.

In the case of the first quartet I was propelled into an intense burst of creativity by a lecture on physics… What grabbed me was the realisation that all matter - including our physical bodies - is made of the same stuff: stardust. So the first movement might be called ‘a fugue without a subject’, as particles of this stardust swirl around each other, go their separate ways, collide or merge. The second movement might be described as ‘star gazing from outer space’, while the finale re-establishes gravity and earthbound energy.”

Instrumentation:

Str 4tet