Norton, Christopher: Quintet

'The Quintet for 4 violins and piano was originally written for school-age performers. It is full of subtle and delicate textures and in the last of the three movements the freedom of expression hinted at in earlier movements flows into totally free, atonal, arhythmic (and atypical!) music. The first movement is gentle and hesitant, with longer melodies gradually appearing out of short rhythmic figures. The second movement, ostinato, features an insistent Eb, D virtually throughout and is also distinguished by piano harmonics.