Andrew Robinson

String Quartet No. 2 My first attempt at composing after my return to music in 2016 was String Quartet No. 2. The piece is constructed with six movements. The first movement, an Introduction, is a slow elegiac song. It returns as the third and fifth movements, each time the ending is extended slightly more. The second movement is an agitated piece; the fourth movement is a gloomy affair with a foreboding ostinato; the sixth movement, whose six and nine note overlapping motifs that eventually congeal to present one long cadence. With the exception of the last movement whose idea of the overlapping motifs was worked out in 2014, all the music of this quartet was written in April and May of 2016. Recording is from a 2017 CFAMC conference performance. The score has a number of minor revisions since the performance.

Work began on the String Quartet No.3 during the summer of 2016. The first version of the piece was completed just days before the 2016 US presidential election in November. Inspiration for this work was drawn from the display of demagoguery witnessed that year. Each of the four movements of this work is a window into the demagogue archetype; a view of a character devoid of empathy, and pathologically narcissistic; a character that brags of his faults as if they are virtues. I have made numerous revisions to the work, even up to January of 2025. The roots of the style of this piece are imbedded in 19th century romanticism; both its techniques, and sentiment. The first movement, The Awakening, opens with something of a Greek Chorus, and whose klaxon call alerts us to the danger of the demagogue. This chorus is a commentary on the tragic flaws of the demagogue, and what it portends for the world should people fall under the spell of such a character. Those comments conclude in a whispered admonishment, “Just watch.”. With an upward sweep, the listener is drawn in to the hectic activity of the demagogue. A brief respite from this chaotic deluge of music brings us back to a klaxon call like the one heard in the opening notes of the movement. It is only just enough to catch our breath though before an ostinato starts up to drive home the demagogue’s tirade. The chaos comes to a close with the repeated hammering of a chord declaring only a half-cadence to conclude the movement. The second movement, The Funeral, presents a plodding, almost aimless, passage over which a slow drawn-out melodic duet pours out the grief of loved ones. It is a grief the demagogue is incapable of feeling or understanding. The demagogue, plods on, as if reading from a teleprompt, saying the words of condolence with no feeling. At best, it is a diatonic grief, with no angst of accidentals. In the third movement, The Diversion, we see the demagogue embark on an escapade of self-gratification, and carnal pleasure. The demagogue brags of the exploits as if they are the product of virtue. The fourth and final movement, The Reckoning, is perhaps the most ambiguous of the four movements. Is it a reckoning for the demagogue, or is it one for those that oppose the demagogue? It opens with the unsheathing of sabers. With their unsheathing, a new ostinato is taken up to accompany a plaintive passage; we hear a plea for mercy. It becomes a jig-like dance over the Funeral movement’s slow drawn-out melody. Who is dancing on whose grave though? When the Funeral’s melody draws to a close, a Beethoven-like transition bridges us back to an unsheathing of sabers. The sabers are re-sheathed though, and the movement concludes with a full cadence in C major. The swell and diminuendo of that tonic chord gives way to one final short burst of a triple forte C major chord as if to say, “You have been warned!”. But who is being warned? Is it a warning chord of the eventual triumph of justice, or is it a discordant warning to any that oppose such a despotic tyrant as our demagogue?