Roses for icarus

for string quartet
2004

'And all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well When the tongues of flame are in-folded And the fire and the rose are one.' (T.S.Eliot, Four Quartets)

According to Greek mythology, Icarus, son of Daedalus, was so enchanted by his new-found ability to fly that he flew too close to the sun, the wax which held his manufactured wings together melted, and he plunged to his death in the sea below.

In a way we are all like Icarus, fragile and vulnerable to the things that excite and attract us. We frequently fly too close to the sun; some of us stop just short of danger, some of us are caught as we fall, and some return, like moths to a light bulb, to get burnt again and again.

Roses for Icarus was commissioned by RTE for the Vanbrugh String Quartet.

Listen to this piece on Rachel's Radio