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        • 3333/4231/timp.4perc/hp/str
        • 24 min

        Programme Note

        When I planned the work, I gave its three main sections the working titles of 'Intensification', 'Complexity' and 'Simplification', with the central section subdivided into three in a way which exactly parallels the divisions of the whole. I also gave the piece a subtitle which reflected the fact that I saw the music in terms of colours: but the subtitle was later withdrawn, not least because I decided that the colours I had suggested were, in retrospect, inappropriate ones. However, the concept of large areas of colour, applied as if in large brush-strokes, is perhaps a useful way of seeing the work; and its preoccupations still seem valid to me, at a distance of nearly 25 years, especially the idea of 'intensification', which has remained a central concern.

        Colin Matthews, September 1998

        Media

        Fourth Sonata (1974-75): 1. Beginning (Part I) = 60
        Fourth Sonata (1974-75): 2. Part II (1)
        Fourth Sonata (1974-75): 3. Part II (2)
        Fourth Sonata (1974-75): 4. Molto sostenuto (Part II (2))
        Fourth Sonata (1974-75): 5. Sempre molto legato e pianissimo (Part III)

        Scores

        Preview the score

        Reviews

        More gratifying, the reception was equally rapturous for Colin Matthews' Fourth Sonata, the latest in the Encore series of significant British orchestral works. Born of Matthews' flirtation with American minimalism in 1974, the emphasis on sonority is reflected in the very precisely and imaginatively judged soundworld. Yet Matthews' working of thematic strands adds a calm expressivity that, in the string writing in particular, militates against the domination of rhythmic and textural factors - even if, ultimately, it was the violently explosive percussion that proved so compelling.
        Rian Evans, The Guardian
        21st January 2005
        Its title is deceptive. This is no chamber effort, but a large-scale 25-minute epic in which a young composer can be heard attempting to synthesise many diverse influences: the pulsating motor rhythms of American minimalism (new and exciting in 1974); the sinuous, lonely string melodies of his mentor, Britten; and the thick, lush mesh of discords which was such a ubiquitous feature of the mid-20th century European avant-garde… I enjoyed it, and the audience response was exceptionally warm. So, encore!
        Richard Morrison, The Times
        21st January 2005