1. Waltz-Mazurka I
2. Quasi Gavotte
3. Gigue
4. Berceuse
5. Courante
6. Musette
7. Barcarolle
8. Waltz-Mazurka II
My Sixth Quartet was one of several works written in lockdown when commissions dried up and it felt essential to keep working. During that period I also wrote a large-scale orchestral work, Mosaics, and Paraphrases as a gift for Leila Josefowicz.
This quartet was written especially for the Gildas Quartet as a thank you for the fine performances they gave of my Fourth Quartet back in 2013 and 2014. All of my quartets have a different number of movements, none of them the conventional four, and this goes to the extreme of no less than eight. Their titles more or less speak for themselves, the intention being a Suite-like assembly of different moods, but all having the same kind of improvisatory feel.
First performed by the Gildas Quartet on 14 June 2025 at Orford Church, Orford as part of the Aldeburgh Festival.
Categories: Chamber