String Quartet (2024)

Duration ca. 15' 00" 

This work was written as part of the third year of my undergraduate composition studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Movement III. was premiered by Gabriel Kerridge, Klara Decker-Stewart, Lucy Dube, and Rachel Jeong at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music on the 22nd of May 2024.

Movement I. was workshopped with the Australian String Quartet at the University of Sydney on the 5th of June 2024. 

The full work is yet to receive its World Premiere - please get in touch if you are interested!

 About the Work: 

I. Moto Perpetuo (ca. 4' 15") This opening movement, presented in Sonata Form, is built out of a small four note triplet motivic cell. This is used to create sweeping gestures through the ensemble, almost always maintaining a sense of forward momentum. 

II. Passacaglia (ca. 2' 30") This movement is built out of material that first emerged in the development section of the opening movement, now presented as a 'ground bass', forming the basis for a short passacaglia. This ground bass is slowly and gradually introduced in the Cello before being distorted as the movement progresses. 

III. Reverie (ca. 4' 45") This movement moves contrapuntally between inversions of different chord sonorites, out of which different themes emerge, some familiar, and some completely new, always creating a dream-like atmosphere. 

IV. Fugato (ca. 3'30") This final movement is a fugato on a Subject built by varying the 'ground bass' used in the second movement. It is presented in a fugal exposition alongside a Countersubject built from the opening movement's four note motif. The work gradually becomes slower in tempo, ending with a sparse drawn out presentation of the now intervallically inverted Subject and Countersubject. 

© Adriel Sukumar 2024