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String Quartet No. 2: "Shaman" (1993) |
string quartet and live electronics - 8'
Commission: The Smith Quartet with funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain for a British Council tour of South America in 1993. First performance: Santiago, Chile, 7 August, 1993, The Smith Quartet.Although The Smith Quartet did not premiere my first quartet they played it extensively between 1990 and 1993 and were important in helping me revise and establish the final version which they did at my 50th Birthday concert at the South Bank Centre, London, 23 March, 1993. During our three year working period together The Smith Quartet asked me to write a second quartet which they planned to premiere and tour on their 1993 British Council tour of South America. The result was a second quartet with electronics which I called "Shaman" because of some of the live electronic "magical" functions. The quartet this time was truly a quintet because of the virtuoso live electronics part vital to the string quartet's performance. The second quartet, like my first quartet (1989-93), is taking some time to reach its final stage and I currently consider it a work-in-progress evolving further with each performance.
© Stephen Montague