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Sir John Blackwood McEwen
(Scotland, 1868–1948)

McEwen's music is characterised by the folk traditions and landscape of his native Scotland but infused with the colours of French impressionism. He wrote many important orchestral works including a viola concerto and five symphonies. It was to the field of chamber music, however, that McEwen was to devote much of his time.

CHAN 9926

Quartet for Strings No. 7 in E flat, 'Threnody' (meaning lamentation, or dirge), was composed in 1916. The score bears the inscription 'The Flowers o’ the Forest', a line taken from a song commemorating the Battle of Flodden in 1513. The song's melody is quoted at the end of the piece.

String Quartet No. 16 in G major, 'Quartette Provençale' (1936), is a vivid evocation of the moods and colours of Provence, with its movements entitled 'Summer morning', 'Summer evening' and 'Le Mistral'. Music representing birdsong is juxtaposed with whole-tone sequences in the first movement.

Quartet No. 4 in C minor is one of McEwen's most daring works, composed in 1905. The Allegro has echoes of early Bartók and the scherzo is an agitated version of the coda in the finale of Beethoven's Op. 127. The last two movements are very Scottish in character; a sad lament full of rich chromatic harmonies preceding a high-spirited romp.

'Fantasia' for string quartet No. 17 dates from 1947 and is McEwen's last quartet. Its mood is sombre and contains a reflective Dvorákian middle section.