String Quartet (in memoriam Béla Bartók)

by Henry McPherson

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1.	I - Dark, Tendrilous (like something from the depths) 07:32	buy track
2.	II - Crystalline (breaking, shattering, falling) 11:56	buy track
3.	III - Still, Glistening (like an ocean slowly breathing, or a sheet of glass) 08:11	buy track

about

String Quartet (in memoriam Béla Bartók, 2022)

Performed by Henry McPherson, Barnoldswick (Lancs, UK) August 2022

This quartet was composed using a technique of layered improvisations in the studio. Throughout, the work explores physical and sonic fragility, each instrument experimenting with moments of tension, breaking, and collapse (in the arms and fingers, as much as in timbre and shape). The piece invites reflection on and an acceptance of half-ness, in-betweens, incompleteness and being ‘not quite there’, in both sound and gesture. The first movement – “Dark, Tendrilous (like something from the depths)” – plays with the tangling and weaving of microtonal threads. Its meandering, fragmented melodies, recalling shadowy figures from Bartók’s own quartets, are drawn together loosely before winding down and unravelling, never quite reaching conclusions. The second movement – “Crystalline (breaking, shattering, falling)” – is an exploration of texture focused on scratchwork, pressure, and bright, harsh timbres. It is driven by the physicality and sensation of experimental techniques, by the concentrated point of contact between bow and string, the scratch of rosin powder, and the tension of metal and wood. The third movement – “Still, Glistening (like an ocean under starlight, or a sheet of glass)” – moves into a hovering soundworld of ghostly harmonics and flautando bowing, gradually opening into a plaintive chant in four parts.

© ℗ Henry McPherson

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released October 26, 2022

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Henry McPherson UK

improviser
composer
researcher

moss music
piano
experimental voice

free improvisation

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