Désir, Lera Auerbach’s String Quartet No. 7, places the quartet under the sign of desire: not only romantic desire, but also longing, hunger, memory, absence, pursuit and the magnetic force of the unreachable.

Its three French-titled movements — Compagnon de silence, Agenda de Don Juan, and Rêves et dances de désir — suggest a psychological progression from silence and companionship to seduction, dream and the choreography of desire.

Desire becomes chamber music: four voices drawn toward what they cannot fully possess.

Commissioned by Pittsfield South Mountain Concerts and premiered in Pittsfield by the Borromeo String Quartet, the work extends Auerbach’s ongoing exploration of the quartet as a theatre of memory, language, tension and inner drama.

Désir. A French title suggesting longing, attraction, pursuit and absence.

Three Movements. Silence, Don Juan, dreams and dances of desire.

Borromeo Quartet. First performed in Pittsfield by the Borromeo String Quartet.

String Quartet No. 7 “Désir” follows String Quartet No. 6 “Farewell” in Auerbach’s quartet cycle. The sequence suggests a powerful emotional turn: from departure and closure toward longing, pursuit and the unresolved energy of desire.

As chamber music, it is presented here with the official Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski work and purchase pages rather than rental-material links.