String Quartet No. 1 (1995) 11’11’’
I. Adagio - II. Presto - Lento - Presto
first performance: The Quasar Quartet, Rotterdam, dec. 1996
performed since: in the Netherlands (a.o. Gaudeamus Interpreter’s Competition 1997, Hal 4, de Doelen / Rotterdam), Germany and Poland
recorded on CD: by Ewa Trebacz Quartet, Krakow, Poland
This piece is depicting a nightmare. In the first movement, an eerie web is forming around a peaceful dream which gradually grows tighter. In the second movement, the ghosts are revealed in the form of eight themes being poured out over the listener and each other. In the lento-section of this movement, the dream seems to have ended; as any good nightmare, it hasn’t.
This was my first piece, and the reason I passed the audition. I poked my nose into composition in my first year of flamenco guitar at the conservatory, and started studying it more out of interest than anything else. Luckily for me, I was assigned a teacher who supported me from day one, and when this piece saw its first performance, everything changed. It became an instantaneous hit, had around 10 performances in the weeks following the premiere, and all of a sudden I knew what to do with my life. Unverhofft kommt oft....
listen: Stringquartet No.1 Clip!
