Trois pièces pour quatuor à cordes was composed between 2013 and 2014, following several works in which string writing had become an increasingly central part of the composer’s practice. Premiered in London in 2014 by the Arditti Quartet, the three pieces have distinct characters and may be performed separately, while together forming a complete cycle.

The first piece develops a fluid and expressive exploration of harmony and timbre, with microtonal inflections continually altering the quartet’s internal colour. The second, shorter piece brings instrumental and performative gesture to the foreground. Jettati, glissandi, muted strings and sharply articulated rhythmic figures create a more physical and concentrated writing in which the actions of the performers become inseparable from the resulting sound.

The third piece concentrates more directly on musical material itself: an accent acts as a stimulus from which a cloud of high harmonics emerges, generating detailed contrapuntal responses and increasingly rich harmonic textures. Across the three pieces, harmonic colour, instrumental gesture and material transformation offer complementary approaches to the expressive, harmonic and spectral possibilities of the string quartet.