STAMP (to avoid erotic thoughts) - Digital (Not Printable)

For string quartet. Premiered by the Smith Quartet in 2008. 'STAMP takes as its point of departure some bars from an Italian Saltarello dating from the 14th century. Johannes de Groecheio, writing in the 14th century, claimed that the Estampie was so complex so that it obliged the young people dancing it to concentrate and avoid erotic thoughts!' I thought “wonderful” did it ever catch on here? However the extant notations did not trigger a way forward for me, so I was delighted when I found this particularly strange Salterello, as that Italian form is quite clearly derived from the French Estampie.' - Donnacha Dennehy