Reach

for string quartet

About

Reach is inspired by the account of Dr. John Rae’s 1860 expedition to survey the proposed route for a northern telegraph line connecting Europe and North America via Shetland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland. One particular detail of Dr. Rae’s journey stood out to me: while in the Faroes, he climbed the mountain Skælingur in very rough weather. Not only that: he deliberately chose the more difficult of two possible routes up the mountain.

This brought up associations to the concept of pilgrimage, i.e., undertaking an initiatory journey, usually to a sacred destination. The end of such an ordeal is often anticlimactic, with the realization that it was the journey that was sacred, not the destination.

The title of the piece refers to several meanings of the word “reach” — such as reaching for, having reached, or out of reach — while also bringing up associations to the vast land- and seascapes encountered by Dr. Rae on his journey.

Acknowledgements

Reach was commissioned by Nordic Viola and premiered at the Orkney International Science Festival on 9 September 2026 by Nordic Viola & Aldubáran at the St. Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, Scotland with the support of Creative Scotland, Koda Kultur, and Koda-Føroyar.

Composition Year

2026

Duration

10′ 30″

Instrumentation

Violin 1

Violin 2

Viola

Violoncello