Flex

Flex was written as a response to the second movement of Schubert’s string quartet, Death and the Maiden, and is an alternative variation on Schubert’s theme. It was commissioned by Late Music, York to be performed in a concert with a new set of variations written by five different composers.

Flex is a diminutive and short-lived display of feverish, cocky exuberance, of being ‘very much alive’, as antithesis to the mournful death-march of Schubert’s original theme. It makes me think of the ‘Bring out your dead’ scene from Monty Python’s ‘Holy Grail’, and the idea of trying to prove you are still full of life and not yet ready for the scrap-heap. Unfortunately, it is only a brief ‘flex’ as the piece takes a turn and there is a downward spiral of melancholic reflection.

Recording made by James Else at the first performance (07.03.26 York Unitarian Chapel, York)

Obert String Quartet:

Lisa Obert (Violin)

Lily Whitehurst (Violin)

Sarah Greene (Viola)

Elinor Gow (Cello)