'Fled is that music: —Do I wake or sleep?' -for String Quartet

Irish Echoes

Pandemic Music: Pieces written in 2020/2021

Vintage Classical

String Quartets

A collection of varied pieces for string quartet, both single and multi-movement. 

A Congeries for String Quartet

Third and last movement of the most recent quartet for A Congeries. All titles are quotes from Keats' 'Ode to a Nightingale'.

'Fled is that music: —Do I wake or sleep?' Mvt3: 'I have been half in love with easeful Death'

This I have recorded at the end of January 2021.

J. S. Bach - Goldberg Variations BWV 988

1st movement completed 20 Aug 2021. The somewhat subdued ending points toward the 2nd mvt, which incorporates a plaintive (and famous) Irish song from Donegal.

String Quartet 2 ('From Ireland'); Mvt. 1 'Anamúil' (Lively) (Completed)

This second movement of 'String Quartet 2' includes 3 complete iterations of the tune from Donegal known as 'She Moved Through the Fair,' as well as variations and echoes of the tune in other passages.

String Quartet 2 ('From Ireland'), Mvt 2, 'Cinniúnach' (Tragic) (Completed)

The second movement of a suite for violoncello and piano. Written in 2022 february. A meditative and dreamlike mood let me write this piece. A short escape away from the bad news, to get new trust in future.

"Aeon of decision" For Violoncello And Piano Mvt 2

01 - Spitfire Audio - Appassionata Strings - Cellos (6) - Legato
02 - Spitfire Audio - Appassionata Strings - Violins 1 (8) - Legato
03 - Spitfire Audio - Appassionata Strings - Violins 2 (6) - Legato
04 - Spitfire Audio - Appassionata Strings - Violas (6) - Legato
05 - Spitfire Audio - BBC Symphony Orchestra Professional - Oboe - Legato
06 - Spitfire Audio - BBC Symphony Orchestra Professional - Clarinet - Legato
07 - Spitfire Audio - Hans Zimmer Strings - 60 Cellos - Long
08 - Spitfire Audio - Fractured Strings
09 - Spitfire Audio - Spitfire Solo Strings - Cello - Legato
10 - Spitfire Audio - Abbey Road One - Low Woods
11 - Spitfire Audio - Originals Cinematic Frozen Strings
12 - UVI - EGP

Appassionata - Franck Douvin - Jacques Lemaire

When the grief is deep and the pain unbearable, you must let it happen and honor this feeling. I try to convey this atmosphere by setting it to orchestral music.

Continuous eighth-note movements, sometimes driven by the violins, then by violas, cellos or contrabassi, drag the pain through the entire music piece, which ultimately ends in quiet peace .

Lamento For Strings

Finally completed. This piece incorporates a Cork reel from Petrie's Collection of Ancient Irish Music, as well as a new reel tune I wrote myself. I suppose that's a Cork reel, too, since I live here. I hope you like it.

From the Madhouse: Céilí (Completed)

A drama for string quartet conveying the combined pathos and lightheartedness that characterizes much of Irish life and art. The piece itself, through its dramatic arc, shares a similar diversity.

He Laughed on his Way to the Gallows... (Op. 97, 2019)

Completed. This incorporates two Irish reels, 'The Country Girl's Fortune' (a Connemara reel) and a shorter reel from Clare, as well as some reeling strains added by myself. It's very short, but would serve well as an amusing and exciting encore.

Reeling at Mourne (Completed)

This is a very personal composition.
The main themes I use here I found when I was 17. That time I had not the handicraft to compose a really good work. Many studies of Palestrina, J.S.Bach, Beethoven, Dvorak, Debussy and so on was necessary to reach at last this result. Ten years ago I remembered of these old themes and deciede to make a concert of it. The whole concerto consists of Intro and two themes. But there are so many secession of motifs, seven counterpoints of main theme, so it is became very complex. The much too long Intro is a piece for itself.
Inspite of that I hope you can enjoi it.
Written down in 2018, digal realisation 2020.

"Reminiscence" Concerto for piano and orchestra (1)in a-minor Mvt.1

The first movement is completed. The title and titles for each movement are lines from Keats' 'Ode to a Nightingale'.

'Fled is that music:—Do I wake or sleep?' Mvt. 1: 'And with thee fade away into the forest dim'

'Dancing In Plague Time' was completed on July 22, 2020. Its predecessor, 'Reeling at Mourne', was based on actual Irish reel tunes, whereas this one is original stylized Irish dance music (slip jig and reel) with occasional quirky divagations. The title refers to the time of lockdown in 2020, when the piece was written, and reflects both my interest in Irish traditional musics and the need to keep up our spirits during this difficult time.

Dancing In Plague Time (Op. 101, July 2020)

The Irish title means 'Christmas Snow'. The piece was written for me by R.A. Moulds and I am very pleased to be able to present its first recording. Thanks for writing something for me, Rod. 'Flexibly throughout' was right up my street. Boy, did those fast little canons at the end take a lot of work!

Sneachta Um Nollaig (R.A. Moulds)

String Quartet, Mvt. 2. The overall title and the movement titles are quotations from Keats' 'Ode to a Nightingale.'

'Fled is that music:—Do I wake or sleep?' Mvt2: 'O for a beaker full of the warm South' (Completed)

R.A. Moulds studied music at the University of Southern Mississippi.