String Quartet No.3

score available from
Wise Music

program note
This 3rd quartet was written without commission after a fallow period of about 8 months; and over June and July of 1999 offered complete freedom to write whatever I cared. It is subtitled ‘Eternal Journey’, in reference to the harmony, which modulates through all 12 keys, always seeking the next centre. The work doesn’t resolve in the end – it just dissolves, implying a journey with no end.

The quartet was written for Tania Hardy–Smith and the Tarraj Quartet who gave the premiere performance in the Beckett Theatre at the Malthouse on 5 December 1999. The work is dedicated to my partner, Marianne Rothschild.

review
“The evening’s premiere was of Stuart Greenbaum’s String Quartet No.3 (1999)… effective and well-balanced string writing. Rhythmical modulations and ostinati contributed to a successful sense of pace, ending with a sudden shift to a texture of glissandi and sputtering harmonics.”
Jeff Pressing, The Age, December 1999