Constantly in flux: Helen Grime on the joys and challenges of writing her String Quartet No.2

The release of Bracing Change 2, which includes my second string quartet, is an exciting milestone for me coming after three years of postponements. In some ways it feels quite strange because although the piece was begun in December 2019, it ended up taking over two years to write, and it still hasn’t received its European premiere. The piece was co-commissioned by Wigmore Hall and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and the world premiere took place in July 2021 with the Flux quartet, which I was unable to attend.

The UK premiere has been cancelled many times, mainly due to Covid. So, although the piece is now a few years old, it doesn’t quite feel like it’s been released into the open yet. It’s difficult for me to know how I feel about something artistically without hearing it in a public setting. As time went on and the music remained unperformed, it took on a kind of ghostlike appearance in my mind, somewhere between reality and fantasy.

The piece was written in three distinct periods beginning in 2019 when I was looking forward to a busy year ahead. I had just discovered that I was pregnant with my second son. As a strange coincidence, my first quartet, written in 2013-14, was also begun when I was pregnant, and finished after the birth of my first child.

Extracts from sketches of the second movement of Helen Grime’s String Quartet No.2

I have always wondered if there is a connection between how a composer is feeling, at the time of composition, and the resulting music. If a piece has been particularly difficult to write is this sometimes audible? I think in some cases there can be a strong link but of course there are many instances of bright, carefree music written at times of extreme unrest. There is a sense of intensity and urgency in my quartet, particularly in the second movement, which I think correlates with how I felt at the time.

I finished the first movement around the time we first locked down in the UK. The music in this movement is always in flux. At this point we really didn’t know how the next few years would pan out, and what effect they would have on the music industry. What was immediate in that turbulent time though was a complete change to my working circumstances. Suddenly my husband and I were home-schooling my six-year-old. For some it could have been a period with the potential for productivity, but for us it was the opposite. Many summer festivals were still hopeful that they would run in 2020, so my deadline of late spring still stood. My pregnancy was also not straightforward. Much of this movement uses different kinds of unison, sometimes pitch but often an intense rhythmic unison in parallels. Bursts of activity infiltrate the texture with a sense of restlessness pervading.

Having finished the second movement, and now more heavily pregnant, I got the confirmation that the performance would not go ahead. The piece was put aside until February 2021. During the gap, aside from giving birth, I composed several other pieces. The third movement was also written during a lockdown, but with more support now permitted this period felt very different for me. The stress of my difficult pregnancy was behind me, and I was overwhelmed with wonder for our new arrival. I think all these things affected the third movement. Much of the music is centred around a serene melody for first violin surrounded by warm, gently flowing harmonies. There is still a darkness there, as I think there always is in my music, but it is from a distance.

The Heath Quartet by Kaupo Kikkas

Working with the Heath Quartet in the recording sessions was a joy - a chance to rediscover the music which felt lost to me after so many cancellations. They had prepared this piece for several different concerts that never happened, and it’s not music that can be easily played without a lot of preparation. The dedication and attention to detail that the music requires was matched absolutely by the quartet. I have a little bit of an idea about the hours of practice that the piece demands, and I will always be very grateful for their beautiful recording of this piece. Not only do they play this sometimes fiendishly difficult music with the utmost accuracy, but they also bring to it such a fresh interpretation, adding so much more to the music than a composer can give alone.

This article was originally published in our Friends' Newsletter, Autumn 2022. Alongside articles like this, our quarterly Friends Newsletter is packed with behind-the-scenes updates on recordings and education projects, as well as invitations to see our work in action plus opportunities to meet composers and artists; find out more about becoming a Friend here.

Main article image: Helen Grime © Benjamin Ealovega

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