Programme Note

My first quartet was the last work I composed in China before moving to the US to study at the Curtis Institute of Music. The work captures my state of mind of creating music as an 18-year-old – composing anything was exhilarating, and inspirations seemed to be coming from everywhere. I wanted to embed my love of music from the past and present – Bach, Ravel, Prokofiev, Chick Corea and more – into a fusion of my own taste. The piece begins with a bright and lively Allegro. A lyrical Nocturne follows, succeeded by a fast and rhythmic finale.

—Zhou Tian