Thomas' 'Sun Threads'

SynopsisAt New York’s Alice Tully Hall on today’s date in 2003, the Avalon Quartet gave the first complete performance of a new four-movement string quartet, Sun Threads, by American composer Augusta Read Thomas. Each movement of the new work has its own evocative title and had been premiered previously as stand-alone pieces by a consortium of ensembles: the first movement, Eagle at Sunrise, by the Ying Quartet; the second, Invocations, by the Miami Quartet; the third, Fugitive Star, by the Avalon Quartet; and the fourth, Rise Chanting, by the Alexander Quartet.As the poetic titles indicate, Thomas is not afraid of emotion in music, but insists on internal logic as well, and said:“I believe my music must be passionate, involving risk and adventure, such that a given musical moment might seem like a surprise right when you hear it but, only a millisecond later, seems inevitable … One of my main artistic credos has been to examine small musical objects — a chord, a motive, a rhythm, a color — and explore them from every possible perspective. The different perspectives reveal new musical elements, which I then transform and which in turn become the musical development.”Music Played in Today's ProgramAugusta Read Thomas (b. 1964): Eagle at Sunrise from Sun Threads; Walden Chamber Players; ART CD 1992007