KAY: String Quartet No.1 The Quest

String Quartet No. 1: The Quest (1971):

Don Kay

In one movement this piece is an attempt to solve problems posed by the opening viola statement. Early endeavours met with frustrations before a sense of flow and relaxation develop. A brief return to earlier material beholds the most confident attempt at a solution. Before it returns to a hesitant restatement of the opening viola phrase, with interjections from the first violin. The very ending is echoes by three instruments in turn, and as these notes start posed in the air, as it were, the second violin very quietly adds the final notes, which is seen, perhaps, to be the ultimate solution.

Commissioned by Peter Komlos and the Lyrian String Quartet

Duration 13-14 Minutes
Download includes score and parts