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Ailsa Dixon

A. Dixon: Variations on Love Divine

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Composers Edition  |  SKU: ce-ad1vld1-pr-sp
  • Composer: Ailsa Dixon (1932-2017)
  • Instrumentation: String Quartet (Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello)
  • Work: Variations on Love Divine (1991)
  • Size: 8.3 x 11.6 inches

Description

Written in 1991-2, Ailsa Dixon's final work for string quartet, Variations on Love Divine, represents an unusual foray into religious chamber music. One source of inspiration may have been Haydn's Seven Last Words from the Cross (suggested in the penultimate variation's echo of its final tremolando earthquake). Woven around Stainer's familiar Anglican hymn tune, the Variations offer a musical exploration of the meanings of divine love, from the opening of St John's Gospel ‘In the beginning was the Word' through the nativity, passion and ascension, to a culminating vision of heavenly joy. in a private recording made by the Rasumovsky Quartet in the mid-1990s, the titles or short texts heading each variation were spoken (by the viola player Christopher Wellington), allowing the listener to follow a kind of musical meditation. This spiritual journey takes us through a sound-world that is by turns mysterious, lyrical, dramatic, poignant, and finally exultant in ‘The Song of Praise and the Dance of Joy'.