A Young Poets Collection of Moods and Confessions
scored for two violins, viola and cello
duration 18 minutes
Each part of this quartet is a snapshot. The music forms a collage of moods, a musical self-portrait series of a young artist who searches, doubts, reflects, and dreams.
The cycle thus consists of miniatures: some expressive and melancholic, others light-footed and whimsical. One inspiration is the storm of creativity that overtook the young Robert Schumann in his early piano works: unfiltered, exuberant, experimental. And of course, the novel with the almost identical title by James Joyce played a role in how this music came into being. However, within the apparent lightness there is also a weight, an existential search reminiscent of the Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke.
The music comments on itself, on its influences, on the idea of artistic seriousness. Whether sound can mean something is left open. Even though these are depictions of moods or emotions or ideas—and one might therefore feel an ironic distance as a listener—the work is conceived in full seriousness, as an authentic reflection of the beautiful instability of young artistic life.
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The Opening Act
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In a Flamboyant Way
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In a Pensive Way (…the sublime in the mundane)
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An Eccentric Petite Entr’acte
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In a Weird Whimsical Way
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In a Charming Way
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About Bohemians ...and therefore also Beatniks (and in one way or another also Balladeers and Troubadours...)
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Just Some Time Passing... (Another Peculiar Entr'acte)
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In an Existential Mood
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Three Particularly Joyful Ex's: Excitement, Exuberance, Exhilaration!
A Young Poets Collection of Moods and Confessions is dedicated to Desguin string quartet. The first performance was on July 25, 2025 at Concertgebouw Brugge during Iedereen Klassiek.