The sixth movement of the 21st Quartet is an Intermezzo, in the manner of a somewhat macabre waltz alternating with static 'trio' sections.  The waltz melody grows out of a twelve-tone melody first spelt out rather more cryptically in the Landscape movement.  The harmony is also informed to a certain extent by dodecaphony, and the movement as a whole remains to date the closest I have ever come to the techniques of the Second Viennese School.  The trio sections, also in large part twelve-tonal, constitute the most geo-specific passages in the quartet.  In May 1992 I had the extraordinarily eerie experience of flying over the Kyzylkum Desert in Uzbekistan, in the early dawn before sunrise.  Our aeroplane followed the desert highway for what must have been a hundred miles or so, during which I saw not a single sign of human life.  Something of the utter loneliness of that landscape may be found in the music.  Something also of the sparse scrub of that environment, and of the insect and animal life eked out among it, is depicted in the previous Nocturne.

The Intermezzo runs without a break into the seventh movement.

A.M.Bell - String Quartet No. 21, 'Impressions of a Traveller' (VI)

Born 1965, lifelong lover of music.  Have been picking out little tunes from 5, and attempting seriously to compose since 12.  Generally (although not exclusively) happiest writing in the manner of late-18thC/early 19thC, but very happy to listen to pretty nearly any music.  String quartets a speciality, although not entirely sure why.  No plans to give up the day job (secondary school Support for Learning Assistant) or the weekend job (Choirmaster at St. Magnus's Cathedral, Kirkwall).

A.M.Bell - String Quartet No. 21, 'Impressions of a Traveller' (VI)

Michael Bell