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Quartet No.2
1993

string quartet

duration 25' 

first performance: 
Jennifer Elowitch, Catherine French, Robert Dan, Matt Haimovitz
Portland Chamber Music Festival / Ludcke Auditorium / August 27, 1999

RECORDING—first performance:


SCORE
Frozen
Under the Ice
On Cracked Ice
Into Spring

PROGRAM NOTE
My second quartet was written in Minneapolis in the middle of a harsh winter, at least harsh for someone used to Boston and to England. It has four movements which loosely follow the gradual shift of the seasons from winter into spring. The first movement, Frozen, is brisk and icy with lots of starts and stops; Under the Ice is dreamy and slow–sluggish currents and barely moving life locked under thick slabs of ice; inspired by the lyrics of Water from the Sugarcube' second CD. On Cracked Ice is a scherzo—precarious, suggestive of reckless ice-skaters; In Into Spring the music burgeons until trills, birdsong, and rustic rhythms pervade the movement. Especially in the outer movements there are whispers of Vivaldi. It’s impossible for me to think of the two words 'music' and 'season' without thinking of Vivaldi's over-exposed but still wonderful piece. I decided not to resist but to let this spirit inform this piece as and when it insisted.