There was a thread way back in 2001 that, strangely, has never left my
mind...

I didn't do anything about it at the time because, although I can
appreciate and admire Robert Simpson's symphonic writing, the few of his
symphonies I have heard don't reach me - or rather I must not be able
to reach them - and I didn't want to risk a similar occurrence.

However, there the quartets remained, in the back of my mind, and recently
I had the chance, with little effort on my part, of acquiring just two
- it's never too late.

Now I want to hear them all.

The cosmic 7th - the movement of spheres and particles darkly perceived
- commemorates Sir James Jeans, astronomer and mathematician.  Its three
movements grow one from another in a great arch, initial mysterious
stirrings building up to pulsating unrest and slowly subsiding into ever
mobile tranquility. Tonally anchored lines elegantly intertwine.

The 8th communicates a similar sense of abstract refinement although the
second movement, ("Eretmapodites gilletti"), is stunningly evocative of
a frail, mobile mosquito's persistent intent. Indeed, the quartet was
written to commemorate the entomologist David Gillett. The first movement
is a meditative fugue, measured and bright, that slowly increases in
energy before quietening to original stillness and silence. The delicate,
iridescent grace of the third movement for muted strings gently fluctuates
and flows in perpetual motion, whilst the fourth is an intense and
determined contrapuntal chase, building in tension, forever true to the
indication "Risoluto e concentrato" - then scale and motif emerge and
flow through all registers, in seemingly unpredictable pattern, to a
final chord and cry.

The music is beautiful.

Apologies to all those who know Simpson's quartets so much better than
I do. I just hope others will feel attracted. A "Robert Simpson's String
Quartets" search in the subject line will bring out the messages in the
archives.

Regards,

Christine Labroche