A door just opened on a street

first performance:

Salomé Quartet

Collyer-Ferguson Hall, Canterbury

16 September 2021

duration:

11 minutes

programme note:

Reflecting Emily Dickinson’s poem of the same name, John Woolrich’s A door just opened on a street captures a breadth of mood and intensity belying its modest duration. Cast in a single movement, a mysterious and compelling continuity is drawn between numerous contrasting episodes which pair sweeping, often restless lyrical lines with mechanical repeating figures and hushed chorales. Woolrich’s harmony plays with similar contrasts, sometimes driving the music forwards boldly, sometimes receding into a more static and introspective world. The result has a searching quality which immediately captivates and takes the listener on a far-reaching journey full of unexpected openings. 

(Gareth Moorcraft)