String Quartet No. 5 (String Quartet)

The set of parts for David Matthews’ String Quartet No.5. 

David Matthews’ String Quartet No.5 was premiered by the Brodsky Quartet in 1984. The 19-minute piece plays continuously but has three distinct movements. The bright light and stark landscape of the Greek island of Santorini were a key inspiration for the piece. Classical Greece also influenced the work’s structure, referencing the Pindaric ode and the principle of the Golden Section. The slow opening movement (lento, cantando) alternates flowing contrapuntal passages with chorales; the Vivace middle movement increases in pace across its tripartite shape; the concluding movement is again slow. Its melody emerges from fragments and into blazing sunlight, all the while recalling the opening.