2022 – for string quartet – 7:30

Sheet Music

Score (pdf)

Recording

Album: From Oblivion to Hope
Date: March 31, 2023

Musician(s): Odin Quartet – Alex Toskov (violin), Tanya Charles Iveniuk (violin), Matt Antal (viola), Samuel Bisson (cello)
Producer: Frank Horvat & Alex Toskov
Location: Canterbury Music, Toronto
Label: I Am Who I Am Records

“The album closes with Hope, a peaceful, harmonious rhapsody with bright colours.” – Ivana Popovic, WholeNote Magazine

Performances

World Premiere: Sep 5, 2022, Church of the Holy Trinity, Toronto
Odin Quartet

Other Performances:
Sep 18, 2022, Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto
Odin Quartet

Programme Notes

I envisioned the concept for Hope many months before I started composing it on March 1, 2022, which coincided with Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. Honestly, it was challenging to compose about hope while hearing stories of suffering. Between this, the pandemic, crippling inflation, and climate change, what can a human on this planet feel hope for?

Despite all this, I am personally still filled with the spirit of optimism for our plights. What other choice do we have? The external strife of the world must never overwhelm our inner spiritual goal of happiness, goodness, and positivity.

Over the years, my creative output has often been inspired by a lot of serious topics, especially related to climate change and other social justice issues. I have sometimes found that composing these works was cathartic because it helped me better understand the issues. But did that outcome include feeling hope for the future? That somehow the collective human experience could get better? Often, the answer was no. So, I think of this composition as a general counterbalance to those previous creative results. I have always felt strongly that music has an important role in bringing awareness and provoking change to make the world a fairer and better place. But the world’s history of challenges has reminded me that music’s ability to give listeners hope for the future is also vitally important.

Please take a moment, breathe, ponder, and find some hope.

Dedicated to every person on this planet who yearns for a hopeful future.
– Frank Horvat

Commissioned by the Odin Quartet with the support of the Ontario Arts Council.