Meadow was commissioned by Eamonn Quinn for the Louth Contemporary Music Festival. Eamonn specifically wanted a longish work (it is 30 minutes), and that was a very good challenge, especially with three string instruments. The string trio is a beautiful combination, very different in my mind from writing for string quartet. The sense of balance is very different.
The work is in a series of short sections. Sometimes the material is melodic, at other times the melody is hidden, shared between the instruments, and there are some passages that are simply chords. A meadow is a simple place, with elements that are there quite naturally; it’s not a spectacular garden, but if you look closely there are many different types of plants and tiny flowers. It is a place of infinite variation.
I am always fascinated by harmony. I like to hear harmony that moves in a direction not necessarily implicated by the material. I like to sit with things for a while, to dwell in the material, to have a chance to listen – whatever the aural equivalent word would be for ‘gazing’… I think that might be another relationship to the title. Another thing I like is the subtle coloration differences between the three instruments – they are shadings of each other, and they have their own distinct qualities, even when in the same register. I am drawn to this kind of colour saturation. These things all combine to take the music into what I think of as subtle emotions – shadings of emotion, perhaps; I often say music can touch on emotions we don’t really have names for. And yet, I hope at least, there is a kind of detachment here, too. So the work is more like a patient observation of material than a form of self-expression. I try to keep myself out of it, and let it just be.
