''Stringsongs'' is a composition for

string quartet The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two Violin, violini ...

by the American composer

Meredith Monk Meredith Jane Monk (born November 20, 1942) is an American composer, performer, director, vocalist, filmmaker, and choreographer. From the 1960s onwards, Monk has created multi-disciplinary works which combine music, theatre, and dance, recordi ...

. The work was commissioned by the

Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classical musi ...

who premiered the piece on January 22, 2005 in the

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London, England, and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings a ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Composition

''Stringsongs'' was Monk's first composition for string quartet. She described her inspiration and the composition process in the score program notes, writing:

Structure

The work has a duration of roughly 18 minutes and is composed in four

movements Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger c ...

: #Cliff Light #Tendrils #Obsidian Chorale #Phantom Strings

Reception

Reviewing the world premiere,

Tom Service Tom Service (born 8 March 1976) is a Scottish writer, music journalist, and television and radio presenter. He has written regularly for ''The Guardian'' since 1999 and presented on BBC Radio 3 since 2001. He is a regular presenter of the Proms ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' praised ''Stringsongs'', writing, " onk'smusic sidesteps traditional string quartet forms to create a work of mysterious, mythic power."

Nadia Sirota Nadia Sirota (born in New York City, New York) is an American viola player. Her father is Robert Sirota, a composer and Conducting, conductor. Life and career Sirota is best known for her singular sound and expressive execution, coaxing solo ...

WQXR-FM WQXR-FM (105.9 FM) is an American non-commercial classical radio station, licensed to Newark, New Jersey, and serving the North Jersey and New York City area. It is owned by the nonprofit organization New York Public Radio (NYPR), which also op ...

similarly lauded, "Her first string quartet, the piece explores texture and raw emotion that achieves maximum impact with minimum components." The music critic George Hall was more critical of the music, however, calling the work "a more discursive four-movement piece that felt unwieldy."

References

{{italic title Compositions by Meredith Monk 2005 compositions Compositions for string quartet Music commissioned by the Kronos Quartet