Bright Sheng: String Quartet No. 3: Streichquartett

Sheng's 'String Quartet No.3' was inspired by the memory of a Tibetan folk dance seen in Chinhai, the border province between China and Tibet. The dance began with freely rhythmic folk singing and segued into a very rhythmic dancethrough which the singing continued. The structure is loosely based on this memory, though the pieces is not an attempt to recreate the scene. The work develops towards the final larghetto section, an elegy to friends ofthe composed who sadly passed away shortly before this piece was written.