glimpses of a half-forgotten future started life as a single-movement work for clarinet quartet, which was commissioned and premiered by Clariphonics in the 2009 Park Lane Group Young Artists Series at the South Bank, London. I had wanted to rework this movement for string quartet ever since – writing for the Carducci Quartet in 2012, quartet in residence at Cardiff University at the time, offered the perfect opportunity, the clarinet quartet piece becoming the first movement of the present work. The second and third movements pick up where the first left off, exploring themes of mortality and loss as suggested by the short text which prefaces the score:
Through now's incessant numbness
Flickers a glint,
A startling glimmer,
A dark flaring...
The work is dedicated to the Carducci Quartet, and was first performed by them on 13 November 2012 in the Concert Hall at Cardiff University School of Music. The Signum Quartet has championed the work since 2016, performing it in Europe, the UK, the US and South Africa, and recording it in 2022 for upcoming release.
- ISMN: 9790570680771 (M570680771)