Colin Matthews' String Quartet No.5, commissioned for the 75th anniversary of The Tanglewood Festival, made its UK debut at the BBC Proms on the 3 August 2015. 

Shot through with silence, Colin Matthew's fascinating String Quartet No.5 delves deeper into the shadowy world of his prize-winning Fourth Quartet from 2012. The character is subdued and introverted; only towards the end of its 11-minute span does the work open out into something more affirmative, before falling back to the hestitant questioning with which it begun. Premiered at the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music in July, the work received its UK premiere by the Apollon Musagète Quartet as part of the BBC Proms

 

PRESS COMMENTS:

 

'An intense and dramatic piece...'

Classical Source [Ben Hogwood] 4 August 2015

 

'Complete lines emerge slowly and collide and cascade frantically before slinking back into semi-darkness. It is a clever, evocative work, as compelling as an animated discussion, half-head from afar, that glides briefly into full hearing range before disappearing behind a closed door.'

The Financial TImes [Hannah Nepil] 2 August 2015