The String Quartet No. 3 was written in the same year as Hymnos, and makes use of major/minor harmony (of course, in Scelsi's inimitable manner) throughout most of the piece. Unusually, Scelsi specifies a program for the work (also in five movements) ending in the movement "liberation, catharsis." This quartet is certainly an attempt to help listeners approach his style, and presents something of a simplification from the previous quartet. Along with harmony, the quartet introduces Scelsi's ethereal transfigured writing entirely in microtones in the high registers - this style was to play an increasing role in the music of his Fourth Period.

Edited from materials originally posted to the Internet in 1992 by Todd McComb
Copyright © 1992-2000, Todd Michel McComb.