Lawrence Dillon

2 violins, viola, cello + optional playback

String Quartet No. 6: Rapid Eye exists in two versions: with or without electronic enhancement. A soundtrack is included that can be run along with the end of the firstmovement. If the soundtrack is used, then the end of the second movement should be amplified with heavy reverb.String Quartet No. 6: Rapid Eye is a rumination on the musical, literary and cognitive meanings of fantasy. The first movement -- Adrift -- is a fantasy on the supernatural journeys of literature, the meandering of dreams, and the intuitive shifts of musical improvisation. It begins with a flickering gesture -- the "rapid eye" of the title -- announcing the onset of dreams. The flickering subsides into a trembling figure passed around the ensemble. From this figure, a widely discursive, episodic movement ensues, as if the figure has become a voyager passing through a series of magical seas. The second movement -- Ashore -- starts from the same flickering gesture, but takes it in a completely different direction. Now we are in a familiar, C Major realm, but time -- in a pizzicato pulse -- is warped and twisted into irregular shapes, like the inadvertent distortions of memory. String Quartet No. 6: Rapid Eye is the final work in the Invisible Cities String Quartet Cycle, a set of six quartets exploring traditional musical forms through a contemporary lens. For more information, www.lawrencedillon.com/invisible.

This is an archival item from ACA's catalog, and not currently available for purchase.