Uploaded August 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Performed by the Chilingirian Quartet (Levon Chilingirian, violin 1; Charles Sewart, violin 2; Asdis Valdimarsdottir, viola; Philip de Groote, cello)
John Blackwood McEwen (1868-1948) was a Scottish composer and educator, most notable for his decades-long tenure teaching composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In my view, his cycle of seventeen string quartets (which excludes two unnumbered, withdrawn quartets from early in his career) is one of the most accomplished of the late Romantic era. For more information about McEwen, see my score video of his fourth string quartet: youtu.be/Dvk6pWg_VAc
Every one of McEwen's string quartets, at least each of those he decided not to withdraw (hence why, despite being published as his ninth quartet, "Threnody" is usually numbered as the seventh), has a decidedly individual quality, although many are connected by common compositional tendencies. "Threnody", perhaps the darkest and most reflective of the set, is no different.
Written in 1916 during World War I, it reflects many of the composer's primary influences, including the English pastoral tradition, the harmonic language of the French Impressionists, and above all the folklore of McEwen's native Scotland. Consisting of four sections played attacca (without pause), I find the crown jewel to be the final four-minute section, a heartbreakingly beautiful setting of the Scottish tune “The Flowers o’ the Forest” played by the cello, giving a sense of fulfillment to many earlier phrases and outbursts of the piece that never reach their full potential. Just as the folk tune commemorates the devastating Scottish defeat at the 1513 Battle of Flodden, McEwen sought to convey the pain of "the war to end all wars" just over four hundred years later.
Performed by the Chilingirian Quartet (Levon Chilingirian, violin 1; Charles Sewart, violin 2; Asdis Valdimarsdottir, viola; Philip de Groote, cello)
John Blackwood McEwen (1868-1948) was a Scottish composer and educator, most notable for his decades-long tenure teaching composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In my view, his cycle of seventeen string quartets (which excludes two unnumbered, withdrawn quartets from early in his career) is one of the most accomplished of the late Romantic era. For more information about McEwen, see my score video of his fourth string quartet: youtu.be/Dvk6pWg_VAc
Every one of McEwen's string quartets, at least each of those he decided not to withdraw (hence why, despite being published as his ninth quartet, "Threnody" is usually numbered as the seventh), has a decidedly individual quality, although many are connected by common compositional tendencies. "Threnody", perhaps the darkest and most reflective of the set, is no different.
Written in 1916 during World War I, it reflects many of the composer's primary influences, including the English pastoral tradition, the harmonic language of the French Impressionists, and above all the folklore of McEwen's native Scotland. Consisting of four sections played attacca (without pause), I find the crown jewel to be the final four-minute section, a heartbreakingly beautiful setting of the Scottish tune “The Flowers o’ the Forest” played by the cello, giving a sense of fulfillment to many earlier phrases and outbursts of the piece that never reach their full potential. Just as the folk tune commemorates the devastating Scottish defeat at the 1513 Battle of Flodden, McEwen sought to convey the pain of "the war to end all wars" just over four hundred years later.
