Devotions (String Quartet No. 3)

This piece is made of a sequence of eight short movements.

It begins with an ascent and a gradual unfurling. We hear a network of voices flowing, pulsating, revolving, crying out. The music moves between tranquil, meditative states and those of a more animated, agitated nature. Yearning lines and figures recur, overlapping and intensifying with each iteration. Around them harmonies swell, envelop and recede. Elements of the music resemble
wordless song, chorale, and the spirit of plainchant.

I am motivated by the idea that imagining, sounding out and perceiving this music can be an act of devotion, an expression of solace intertwined with sorrow, a way of reaching outwards, upwards, towards the inexpressible.

© Edmund Finnis