Shadow Quartet (2007)
for string quartet and four prosthetic violins
Commissioned by Miso Music Portugal for the Smith Quartet

First Page of Shadow Quartet

This work is part of a series of pieces that explore the notion of prosthesis in relation to the interface between acoustic instruments and electronic sounds. The quartet’s resonant materials are derived from four old violins (thank you to Tom Davis for sourcing these!). Resonant analysis from each violin body were used to create pitch and harmonic structures which are explored throughout the piece in an attempt to address the specificity of these instruments’ bodies and their resonant potentials. The four suspended violins act as loudspeakers for the sounding of the work’s electronic part. The relation between the quartet and the four prosthetic violins ranges from ambiguity to contradiction by both extending and reacting against the material played by the quartet.Score and parts can be obtained through the Portuguese Music Research and Information Centre

First Performance: 21.04.07 Sonorities Festival of Contemporary Music [Live Recording] (Smith Quartet)
Other Performances:
24.04.07 Project Arts Centre, Dublin (Smith Quartet)
13.03.08 Maerzmusik 2008 Berlin (Smith Quartet)
27.09.08 Musica Viva 2008, Centro Cultural de Belém (Smith Quartet)
11.09.11 Musica Viva 2011, Centro Cultural de Belém (Matosinhos String Quartet)

Shadow Quartet is released in “Smith Quartet – Music for String Quartet & Electronics” Miso Records (mcd024, 10)
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