Ricordanza-Speranza

For the 20th anniversary season of the Cassatt String Quartet, Godfrey created a three-movement work that has been hailed as "some of the most ambitious chamber music we have heard from any living composer." (New Music Connoisseur) Built on the concept of looking back/looking forward, Ricordanza-Speranzo opens with a quiet, reflective movement, before a furious second movement of ever-shifting meter (con furore).

The third movement begins with a piano solo passage. Natalie Zhu, who performed the Philadelphia premiere with the Daedalus Quartet, says, "There's a huge piano solo at the beginning, and it's almost like an improvisation. It's written out but it feels likeyou're improvising." When the strings join in, Zhu says, "It's almost like a waltz. It's lively and pretty, and the strings and piano are having fun. We're trading melodies. It's almost like a conversation between the instruments."