- Simon Holt
4 Quarters (2005)
- Chester Music Ltd (World)
Commissioned by the Nash Ensemble
Programme Note
I wrote 4 Quarters for string trio in August 2005. The four movements are each named after one of something that normally comes in fours: a humour (Choler), a compass point (North), a season (Spring) and an element (Ether). The first three pieces feature each of the three instruments in a prominent role, while the final piece is meditative. The whole piece lasts about 16 minutes.
(c) Simon Holt
(c) Simon Holt
Reviews
'The title refers to the naming of each of the four movements after something that normally comes as one of four- a humour, a point of the compass, a season and a classical element.
The first movement, entitled 'Choler', consisted of a solo for viola of enormous range and complexity. A counterpart to the fiercely virtuosic cadenza-like episodes in Holt's recent violinconcerto, Witness to a Snow Miracle, 'Choler' felt like a further thrust at the boundaries of string writing already extended by that powerful work...'Spring' was gambolling and almost bucolic in tone, whilst, in the words of the composer, 'Ether', the last movement, 'made Webern look busy'. There was indeed a suggestion in its delicatre pointillism and spare, sparse lines of the Austrian master in his Expressionist phase, though the hushed, weightless wisps of texture also recalled the remarkably inward and self-contained finale of Vaughan William's Sixth Symphony- another enigmatic movement, whose secrets seem fathomless...[Simon Holt] has risen to the challenge [of writing a String Trio] most successfully ina work whose technical difficulties, though formidable, do not overshadow the composer's poetic sensibilities or his audacious inventiveness...'
The first movement, entitled 'Choler', consisted of a solo for viola of enormous range and complexity. A counterpart to the fiercely virtuosic cadenza-like episodes in Holt's recent violinconcerto, Witness to a Snow Miracle, 'Choler' felt like a further thrust at the boundaries of string writing already extended by that powerful work...'Spring' was gambolling and almost bucolic in tone, whilst, in the words of the composer, 'Ether', the last movement, 'made Webern look busy'. There was indeed a suggestion in its delicatre pointillism and spare, sparse lines of the Austrian master in his Expressionist phase, though the hushed, weightless wisps of texture also recalled the remarkably inward and self-contained finale of Vaughan William's Sixth Symphony- another enigmatic movement, whose secrets seem fathomless...[Simon Holt] has risen to the challenge [of writing a String Trio] most successfully ina work whose technical difficulties, though formidable, do not overshadow the composer's poetic sensibilities or his audacious inventiveness...'
1st January 2007
As the title suggests, each of the four movements is named after something that belongs in a set of four – there’s a humour (choler), a point of the compass (north), a season (spring), and a classical element (ether). The immensely challenging trio-writing seems to carry on where Holt left off in his violin concerto witness to a snow miracle, first performed earlier this year, as if the success of that wonderful piece emboldened him to push further at the limits of what string players can achieve.
So the first movement is a coruscating viola solo, authentically choleric and delivered with maximum intensity by Laurence Power. The second is a glacial study in textures, with Paul Watkins’ cello singing out above his colleagues. And the third is full of rapturous solos for violinist Marianne Thorsen, which regularly burst into life. The last movement is the most elusive and the most intensely personal, with delicate thematic shards floating in space until they are brought up short by fierce, fortissimo chords. Like the whole work, it’s beautifully achieved, profoundly individual and ultimately enigmatic.
So the first movement is a coruscating viola solo, authentically choleric and delivered with maximum intensity by Laurence Power. The second is a glacial study in textures, with Paul Watkins’ cello singing out above his colleagues. And the third is full of rapturous solos for violinist Marianne Thorsen, which regularly burst into life. The last movement is the most elusive and the most intensely personal, with delicate thematic shards floating in space until they are brought up short by fierce, fortissimo chords. Like the whole work, it’s beautifully achieved, profoundly individual and ultimately enigmatic.
6th July 2006