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Programme Note

Mishima String Quartet (String Quartet No.3) originally appeared as parts of the film score for Mishima by film maker Paul Schrader. The film follows a complex narrative structure which divides the life of this famous contemporary Janpaeses novelist into 3 parts - his childhood, his mature years and the last day of his life. These subjects were intercut to produce a shifting kaleidoscopic vision of Mishima's life. The scenes of his childhood were filmed in black and white and scored for String Quartet. At the time of writing the film music, I anticipated the String Quartet section would be extracted form the film score and made into a concert piece in its own right.

© Philip Glass