Commissioned to be performed almost exactly 100 years since the end of the Great War of 1914-18, it seemed important for me to reflect on this and try to make my own small tribute to the countless souls who made the ultimate sacrifice in that fearful conflict. The string quartet is perhaps, for composers, the most intimate of creative mediums and, whilst there is no attempt to make any kind of musical description of a war which happened so long ago, I felt I could use some of the passages from the Latin Mass for the Dead to create a 4-movement structure which might provide some sort of personal memorial. The four movements are entitled Introitus, Dies irae, Lacrimosa and Libera me, and, although much of the music has an unsettled and turbulent character, there is hopefully also a glimpse of rest and light.