Composed 2025
The first violin and viola form a canon at the 6th, and are in the same tempo layer. For every ten notes they play, the cello plays four, and the second violin plays twenty-five, forming a canon at the octave with Violin I. The trick is designing the melody so that it forms stylistically valid harmonic combinations with itself which obey these polyrhythms. The melodic language is loosely medieval, and moves through various de-tuned approximations of a naive Pythagorean intonation that I hope gives an impression that the dead courtiers of Avignon circa 1380 have been resurrected in front of your eyes.
Thanks and credit to the inestimable JACK Quartet for the performance.