Episode
Thomas' 'Sun Threads'
- Podcast
- Composers Datebook
- Published
- Apr 30, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 120
- Processing state
not_requested
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/composers-datebook-550176/episodes/thomas-sun-threads/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/composers-datebook-550176/thomas-sun-threads.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
Synopsis At New York’s Alice Tully Hall on today’s date in 2003, the Avalon Quartet gave the first complete performance of a new four-movement string quartet, Sun Threads , by American composer Augusta Read Thomas. Each movement of the new work has its own evocative title and had been premiered previously as stand-alone pieces by a consortium of ensembles: the first movement, Eagle at Sunrise , by the Ying Quartet; the second, Invocations , by the Miami Quartet; the third, Fugitive Star , by the Avalon Quartet; and the fourth, Rise Chanting , by the Alexander Quartet. As the poetic titles indicate, Thomas is not afraid of emotion in music, but insists on internal logic as well, and said: “I believe my music must be passionate, involving risk and adventure, such that a given musical moment might seem like a surprise right when you hear it but, only a millisecond later, seems inevitable … One of my main artistic credos has been to examine small musical objects — a chord, a motive, a rhythm, a color — and explore them from every possible perspective. The different perspectives reveal new musical elements, which I then transform and which in turn become the musical development.” Music Played in Today's Program Augusta Read Thomas (b. 1964): Eagle at Sunrise from Sun Threads ; Walden Chamber Players; ART CD 1992007