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Work


this desperate edge of now

for string quartet

Year:  2007   ·  Duration:  11m

Year:  2007
Duration:  11m

Composer:   Helen Bowater

Films, Audio & Samples

Helen Bowater: This despera...

Embedded video
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Sample Score

Sample: Page 1-5

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Borrow/Hire:

To borrow items or hire parts please email SOUNZ directly at info@sounz.org.nz.

About

The string quartet is inspired by a poem by Mervyn Peake:

’Is there no Love can Link us?’

Is there no thread to bind us – I and he
Who is dying now, this instant as I write
And may be cold before this line's complete?

And is there no power to link us – I and she
Across whose body the loud roof is falling?

Or the child, whose blackening skin
Blossoms with hideous roses in the smoke?

Is there no love can link us – I and they?
Only this hectic moment? This fierce instant
Striking now
Its universal, its uneven blow?

There is no other link. Only this sliding
Second we share: this desperate edge of now.


Commissioned note

Created with financial support from Creative New Zealand


Contents note

Three movements


Performance history

08 Feb 2008: Ensemble Ruspoli