Earlier this year I was asked to write a piece for string quartet by my friend Adam Maha. His quartet was going to be competing in some competitions, and they wanted to play a brand new piece.
So, I thought this would be a good chance to add another piece to my composition portfolio, and re-visit an ensemble I hadn’t written for since the score for Down by the Riverside.
‘To Entertain a Wolf’ – String Quartet no.1 is my interpretation of the tradition of string quartet writing with the added genre influence of minimalism, modal jazz music, some romantic-esque string writing and film scoring techniques.
The narrative structure of this piece is loosely based around a morning with my son. The piece is also dedicated to him.
Written for and performed by the Taiaha Quartet
Jin Kim – Violin
Ngaru Martin – Violin
Adam Maha – Viola
Tamsin Kreymborg – Cello
The audio recording is from the finals of the 2012 Pettman/ROSL ARTS International Scholarship for a Chamber Music Ensemble.
The video is a slideshow of photos of my son for the past 8 and a bit months that he has been alive.
Jeremy Mayall 