STATO D’ANIMO - for string quartet
Commissioned by the Smith Quartet and a ‘Grants for the Arts’ award from Arts Council England.
First performances:
St. Georges Brandon Hill, Bristol 3 October 2006
The Smith Quartet
Aula Absidale, Bologna, Italy 1 February 2007
The Smith Quartet
Duration: c.18 minutes
Suzanne Rolt on Stato d'Animo
'It was one of the best received premieres we have held in recent years'
by Suzanne Rolt, Artistic Director at St. George's Brandon Hill, Bristol
St. Georges Brandon Hill, Bristol on Stato d'Animo
'James Barrett's Stato d'Animo struck me as a highly impressive and accomplished work, full of fantasy and colour and written with an innate feel for the medium of the string quartet'
by John Pickard, composer, Senior Lecturer in composition at Bristol University, trustee of St. Georges
As the title suggests (loosely translated as 'State of Being' or 'Frame of Mind'), there was no obvious subject matter acting as inspiration for the piece, but I rather wanted to internalise and look a little deeper in responding to and trying to identify/react to my thought processes when I was writing. This was a particular area of interest for me at the time, in that I'm very aware of what feels like a sixth sense or a voice from my subconscious when I'm writing, and much of the time I just can't fathom where the music comes from.
Five movements: