‘Midnight Spires’ (2019)
for string quartet
Approx. Duration: 7’
Commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society, first performed by the Castalian String Quartet at the Cheltenham Music Festival 9th July 2019
'Midnight Spires' (2019) is a short work for string quartet inspired by life in the city of Oxford, particularly in the midnight hours under the shadows of its spires and stars, and the warm, yellow glow of its streetlamps. The work seeks to emulate these atmospheric surroundings by utilising delicate melodic fragments to create an ethereal soundworld. ©G.E.M.2019
©Cover Image: 'midnight spires' Painting by Grace-Evangeline Mason 2019
“Grace-Evangeline Mason’s lovely Midnight Spires has an Arvo Pårt-like solemnity”
“I also enjoyed the string quartet’s ethereal rendition of Midnight Spires by Grace-Evangeline Mason, which transported me to the midnight setting it was inspired by.”