Thomas' 'Sun Threads'

Thomas' 'Sun Threads'

From Composers Datebook by American Public Media

April 30, 2026 · 2 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the premiere of Augusta Read Thomas's string quartet 'Sun Threads' and its emotional and logical musical elements.

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.”…

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Avalon Quartet, Ying Quartet, Miami Quartet, Alexander Quartet

Books & works: Sun Threads, Eagle at Sunrise

Places: New York, Alice Tully Hall

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