Mathias' third and final quartet was commissioned by the 1986 Harrogate International Festival and premiered there in August that year by the Medici Quartet. It has three movements: the first takes the form of a sonata, the second starts off as mysterious and lyrical and moves into a fiery climax, and the third uses exciting fugal passages and 'scherzando' sections, which make for a thrilling conclusion.
William Mathias was born in Whitland, Dyfed. He studied at the University College of Wales, and subsequently at the Royal Academy of Music. From 1970-1988 he was Head of the Music Department at the University College of North Wales, Bangor. Mathias musical language embraced both instrumental and vocal forms with equal success, and he addressed a large and varied audience both in Britain and abroad. He was also known as a conductor and pianist, and gave or directed many premičres of his own works. He was made CBE in the 1985 New Year's Honours. In 1992, the year of his death, Nimbus Records embarked upon a series of recordings of his major works.
