Steve Elcock
COMPOSER
The Aftermath of Longing, op.36
(string quartet)
playing time : 17'
This quartet, my fourth, though not so numbered, is in one movement. The three sections, of roughly equal length, are slow, fast and slow respectively. Reference is made in the fast section to the preceding slow music, while the final slow section is only distantly related to the foregoing.
The title sets the atmosphere of the piece, particularly that of the outer slow sections. It has no programmatic associations other than those that the listener may care to bring.
The quartet is dedicated to the Tippett Quartet in gratefulness for having sought out my music and performed it.