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Colin Matthews

Composer

Matthews can handle grandeur and intimacy with equal skill.

— Fiona Maddocks, The Observer

Quatrain (1989). Wind, brass & percussion

Quatrain is a ten-minute piece for wind, brass and percussion instruments.  Its title describes its form: although it runs in one continuous movement, it can be divided into four sections, rather like old-fashioned symphonic form.  There is an exposition, a development section in a much slower style (only six chords are spaced out over some two minutes of music here); a contrasting scherzo-type section and finally a kind of recapitulation.  There is also a noticeable development in the way that the (all metal) percussion instruments are used as the piece progresses: handbells and steel tubes dominate the opening, the keyed percussion instruments are gong and prevalent in the middle of the piece, and the heavy metal returns at the end.  Among the wind instruments the only unusual feature is the use of five clarinets, the intention being to strengthen the bass line by adding a contrabass clarinet.

Quatrain was commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra for the opening of their 1989 season and first performed by them under Michael Tilson Thomas in San Sebastian, Spain, on August 29th 1989.

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28 March, 2023 - Time Stands Still, Dual, 23 Frames for Piano, Horn and String Trio
Nash Ensemble
Wigmore Hall, London

28 March, 2023 - Seascapes
Claire Booth (soprano), Nash Ensemble
Wigmore Hall, London

1 April, 2023 - Hidden Agenda
London Bridge Trio
Hall 2, The Sage Gateshead, Tyne and Wear

28 May, 2023 - Mosaics (world premiere)
London Symphony Orchestra, Francois-Xavier Roth
Barbican Hall, London

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Useful Links

Faber Music
NMC Recordings
The Holst Foundation

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