Piers Hellawell

Piers Hellawell

Family Group with Aliens

(2019)

for string quartet

Short, Medium, Long

Reflectaphor A, B, C

From Piers Hellawell

This quartet, my third in as many decades, continues the path of the first two in exploring a structural deployment of larger and smaller pieces, like sculptures around a space. A set of six movements falls into two groups: three of the pieces – the ‘family group’ - essentially express the same piece at different magnifications (and hence different durations, i.e. short: 30”, medium: 2’30”, and long: 6’); this principle, of exploring the same musical narrative on different scales, has evolved through a number of my works since 2015. The other three pieces – the ‘Aliens’ - are like cousins to these: they all draw on the material of the ‘family’ and so act as commentaries on the main set. This split-level action mixing ‘main’ and ‘supporting’ pieces, by the way, is also found in my previous quartet, Driftwood on Sand (2002) – the work that brought me and Friction Quartet together.

The three ‘Aliens’ each bear the title Reflectaphor – a term coined by Dr John Briggs for something we recognize as being like, but at the same time distinct from, a related item. Where the ‘family group’ differ mainly in scale, therefore, the three Reflectaphor pieces, while they draw on the shared ideas, are highly contrasted in content: (a) is a brief sound-sculpture, while (b) is a passionate slow movement, and (c) is a two-minute elegy for the young Irish composer Danny Barkley, who died in 2018 – quoting, as it does, some materials from his own Belfast Quartet (2014).

The order of the six pieces is left to the performers; however, it is laid down that the two sets must be heard in alternation – like the shuffling of two hands of cards. The intention is that the listener weaves between the main narrative (the ‘family group’) and the reflections upon aspects from within it.