Hrafnaþing (2013)
Hrafnaþing is a string quartet in three movements. The title literally translates to “a gathering of ravens”. This title comes from the lyrics of an Icelandic folk song, where this word is used to describe a dull gathering of people.
The first movement starts with a quiet timbral exploration of a single pitch, before each voice slowly starts to branch out from the static note. The violins always move up, and their slow gestures are answered later in the viola and cello. These slow calls and answers are always symmetric in their pitch structure, creating a static balance. This idea is developed util the music reaches a climax in energy, and then quickly dissipates.
The second movement is also structured with the use of symmetric pitch material, but does so in a quick-paced homophonic way. There is an underlying soft, percussive ticking in the music where the musicians beat the string with the bow rather than stroking it. This soft ticking is then regularly interrupted by short gestures The first movement starts with a quiet timbral exploration of a single pitch, before each voice slowly starts to branch out from the static note. The violins always move up, and their slow gestures are answered later in the viola and cello. These slow calls and answers are always symmetric in their pitch structure, creating a static balance. This idea is developed util the music reaches a climax in energy, and then quickly dissipates.
The third movement is a frantic, hyper-expressive and repetitive cello solo, that is played over a murmuring background of fast repetitions of different three-note patterns in the other strings. This shimmering, static background texture is frequently spiced with the open strings of the instruments. This idea is developed until it reaches a point where the background texture threatens to overpower the soloist, before the music slows down and fades out.