Anthony Ritchie believes his music has become easier to listen to over time.
His String Quartet No. 1 — first written when he was a student in Budapest and Hungary during the early 1980s — was initially too difficult for the players there to even perform.
But Prof Ritchie says he is now less concerned about the technique of composing and more with the expression and emotion that music can convey.
"In the last 10 years, I've deliberately tried to simplify my style — write almost as if I was a child again, or a teenager, but obviously informed by my adult experiences.
"Without being overly naive, I just try to capture a sort of spontaneous feeling about my music now.
"Possibly people will say, ‘oh, it sounds a bit more easy to listen to’, but I don't mind that."
Auckland-based music label Rattle Records is set to release the Dunedin composer and academic’s new string quartet album Melencolia next week.
The string quartets, Nos. 1 to 3, are performed by the Auckland-based chamber ensemble Jade String Quartet — whose members include Dunedin-born violinist Miranda Adams, her husband, Robert Ashworth, and her daughter, Charmian Keay, along with cellist James Yoo.
It is produced by Kenneth Young, also from Dunedin.
The album’s cover art features details found in the upper right corner of Albrecht Durer’s Melencolia I, from which the album also derives its name.
Prof Ritchie says Melencolia is a "personal album" and one of his more important ones.
The first and second quartets are "a personal documentation of earlier times", while the third quartet is a statement of where he is heading at the moment — "simplifying what I am doing and aiming at being expressive and sharing emotions through my music".
Each of the three quartets were composed with about 20 years between each other — String Quartet No.1 dated back to the early 1980s, No. 2 to 2003 and No. 3 was composed in 2023.
He initially wrote No. 1 as he was studying in Budapest and Hungary.
There was a lot of avant-garde music being played in Europe at the time, which he was encouraged to try.
"At the time I tried to get it played, but it was too hard for the players there.
"It just sort of gathered dust ever since."
It was only after the piece piqued the curiosity of one of his students that an informal performance was arranged in Dunedin.
Prof Ritchie said he had been intrigued to actually hear the piece "come to life" after about 40 years.
Including it on the album was for completeness.
"But also for a challenge for the players, to try something that was a little bit different to what I'd normally have written ... to see how people respond, whether they like it or not.
"I'm always intrigued, I'm never quite sure how people are going to respond to my music."
Prof Ritchie said he had known the Jade String Quartet for a while and they were all "outstanding players".
Melencolia began as a collaboration with the group.
They performed his String Quartet No. 2 in 2022, which spurred him to write another quartet, No. 3, specifically for them to perform. They too were intrigued by his previously unrecorded String Quartet No. 1.
"And they said, ‘well, how about we make a recording of all three of them?’
"They actually played all three last year in their programmes, and we ended the year by recording them all."
The further they got into the rehearsal and recording process, the more he enjoyed String Quartet No. 1, Prof Ritchie said.
But there were some technical challenges.
"I tried some quite experimental stuff, like people playing in different meters at the same time and different speeds.
Common threads ran through all three quartets.
As well as exploring the passage of time, No. 2 and No. 3 were also both written in Dunedin.
"I have a theory that there are aspects of Southern life that can influence artists ... just the feeling that you're on the edge of the world.
"For want of a better word, a slightly dark quality in the work."
No. 1, while "very different to the other two", explored relationships and the concept of being an outsider.
Melancholia itself was also a recurring theme throughout all his music, as well as the flip side of "the more manic side of things".
"I think it's a common theme in a lot of creative people, that somehow they need those mood swings to be creative.
"It's sort of a double-edged sword, really — it's not necessarily a good thing, but on the other side it's why people are creative."
The three quartets were bound together by different states of mind and the album was more psychological than pictorial, Prof Ritchie said.
The fourth movement of the third quartet was informed by the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and the "emotional power that comes through moving as a form of grieving".
Prof Ritchie says the string quartet medium alone demands expressiveness from performers and requires "absolute technical mastery".
His pieces themselves are also "quite technically demanding".
"What I liked, actually, about the process with the Jade String Quartet, was that they were prepared to take some risks.
"There is a tendency, and sometimes in recordings, to play it safe.
"You want to avoid making mistakes, but they really did some quite inspiring things during the recording that we captured."
They were very open-minded performers and willing to try new things, he said.
For the last section of the first quartet, the four of them had to play independently of each other.
"They tackled that really well ... they took on the challenge, shall we say."
Having the Jade String Quartet perform the album was "significant", Prof Ritchie said. His pieces were "substantial" — each about half an hour long — and it was hard for contemporary composers to get such works performed in concerts.
"The fact that they take me seriously and I know them, it's really satisfying.
"I don't think I could really ask for a better recording, to be honest."
For listeners, he hoped Melencolia "transports them somewhere".
"I find that if you get really wrapped up in a performance that you enjoy, you lose track of time.
"That's one of my goals as a composer — to engross people so much that they forget all about how much time is going by."
Melencolia will be released next Saturday and the Jade String Quartet will perform select movements at an RSVP-only launch event at Relics.
TO SEE
Melencolia launch event
Saturday, October 18 at 5.30pm
Relics, 165 George St.
