String Quartet No. 7 (2013)

The work was composed between March – July 2013 and with a duration of 10 minutes String Quartet No. 7 is the shortest to date of my string quartets. 

The formal outline consists of the succession of 34 short but continuous sections of which sections 9 and 34 are the longest. 

The work then divides into two equal large parts: Sections 1 – 17  &  18 -34 

Figs. 9 & 34 (the longer sections) as they are marked in the score are constructed upon the open C natural strings of  the viola and cello respectively. This construction consists of symmetrical movement around periodic iterations of these C natural (pedal) tones. Sections 1 and 34 are further connected by both harmonic and temporal stasis built as they are around a single chord. The other shorter sections divide equally between scalar and gestural patterns and between solo and tutti textures. 

The work is dedicated to Irvine Arditti on the occasion of his 60th Birthday