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- Jonathan Dove
On the streets and in the sky (2020)
(String Quartet No. 2)- Peters Edition Limited (World)
On the streets and in the sky (String Quartet No. 2) by Jonathan Dove is a 23-minute string quartet dedicated to the Sacconi Quartet in celebration of their twentieth anniversary commissioned by Wigmore Hall and an anonymous donor. The three movements reflect on lockdown in the beginning of 2020: a time of anxiety but also with a clear blue sky and birds that sang more loudly, offering glimpses of a better world. On the streets and in the sky was first performed by the Sacconi Quartet on 20 November 2021 at Wigmore Hall. This work is available as part of the Peters Contemporary Chamber Series.
Programme Note
Jonathan Dove ON THE STREETS AND IN THE SKY (String Quartet No. 2)
Commissioned for the Sacconi Quartet By Wigmore Hall and an anonymous donor
Lockdown in London in 2020 was a strange time. Days were filled with anxiety: ordinary daily chores such as a trip to the shops could be deadly. Yet at the same time, without traffic pollution or aeroplanes, the sky over London seemed exceptionally clear and blue. The birds seemed to sing more loudly – or perhaps it was that, without the sounds of traffic, we could hear them better. The blue sky and the birdsong contrasted strangely with the uneasiness of life on the ground. They seemed to offer glimpses of a better world.
Some birds had a particularly tuneful song. I don’t have a garden, but in the tree outside my window, I heard the same bird on a number of occasions, singing some of the same notes, and was struck by the strong pentatonic outline of its song. I could never see it, hidden in the tree: I guessed that it was a blackbird, but I have no expertise to support that. I recorded the unknown bird on a few occasions, and transcribed its song. Around the same time, in a nearby park, a robin impressed me with its unceasing concert, a flow of utterance without any exact repetition. The robin and the unknown bird sing throughout the second movement of this quartet. (My transcriptions of their songs are, of course, an approximation, lower and slower than the real thing, but still very high on the violin.) They form an interlude between the driving, edgy first movement and a serene third movement, suggested by the clear blue sky.
On the streets and in the sky is dedicated to the Sacconi Quartet in celebration of their twentieth anniversary and with gratitude for so many wonderful performances.