Four Aphoristic Inventions - Noten für Streicherquartett Carson P. Cooman

Four Aphoristic Inventions (2003) for string quartet is dedicated to composer Elliott Gyger.
The four very brief movements each explore a different programmatic image.

In Disparate Conversation, the four instruments engage in a "conversation" without listening
to each other.

In Mountain Climber (Unyielding Peak), a cello struggles to climb the unyielding peak
presented in the upper three strings.

Wishing Well depicts a well in which a wish is spoken and it comes back transformed -- not
fulfilled.

In Guillotine, the viola is sentenced to death. A "march to the scaffold" transpires as the
crowd's interjections get more and more intense. Finally, the guillotine does its work.