Instrumentation
string quartet
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Other Information
Commissioned by the Exton Quartet (with funds from West Midlands Arts) for first performance in the Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham, Summer 1988. Performed by the Isis String Quartet at venues throughout Britain, including the Fifth International String Quartet Week (Worcester, 1990) and the London International Opera Festival (1990).
´Downes´s style seems to combine the least cloying aspects of English pastoralism with dashes of European eclecticism. He is also an unashamed romantic, and is not afraid to use words like aggression, tenderness and dreamlike to convey his intentions.
´Yet there is no sentimentality or self-indulgence. The musical points are made with terse cogency and economy of means - quite brilliantly so in the finale. With the Andante Downes shows that traditional beauty of expression still has a place in late twentieth century music, and need not sound derivative.´
THE BIRMINGHAM POST
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