ELIZABETH SELLARS violin
WILMA SMITH violin
HELEN IRELAND viola
ZOE KNIGHTON cello

AGATHA YIM, POLYPHONIC PICTURES filming and editing

THOMAS GRUBB, MANO MUSICA sound engineering, editing and mastering

Filmed May 2023 at Melbourne Recital Centre, Southbank

This project was made possible through support from the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, and the City of Melbourne.

ANNE CAWRSE  b. 1981
“in spaces between”  (composed 2019) 

It was a delight to discover Anne’s piece through FQ’s Ascend program for composer development, and while Anne talks about the “wrenching of notes into existence”, the end product is one of peace and perfect alignment. The harmonic and textural exploration as well as the organisation of sound make this piece the perfect 21st century extension of offerings from past masters.

A note from the composer:

“'in spaces between' is a meditation upon the struggle of finding inspiration to compose within the small spaces in one's life. This is an experience all composers must deal with at one time or another, yet it seems especially pertinent to the life of the working mother, who also happens to be a composer. Where is the space to allow thoughts and ideas to flow freely? What happens to one's voice when their ideas are squeezed into such narrow, tight spaces? 

The work's opening chorale - naive, simplistic, hopeful - is interrupted again and again as it attempts to 'become' something. A series of episodes or variations, built upon an often disguised ground bass, explore alternate states of confinement, monotony and uncertainty, eventually giving way to inspiration. 

This piece was hard work. Be it life imitating art, or vice versa, I often felt I was wrenching the notes into existence, despite my clarity of concept. Whether or not the sound world here speaks of the issue it seeks to reflect, the process of writing it certainly did. 

Finally, in celebration of a 20 year association with the wonderful Zephyr Quartet, the theme for this work is borrowed from the first piece I ever composed for them, Repetito, it too a passacaglia.”