String Quartet No 2 (2017)

String Quartet No.2 (2017) is cast in one concise movement divided into five sections. The main subject is in the form of lilting, graceful siciliana and its leisurely elegance is effectively countered by two episodes of swifter material, the first a grimly ironic march, the second a quicksilver scherzo. In the haunting closing section, the composer deconstructs his siciliana material and the evocative final bars, laced with harmonics and glissandos, slowly fade into silence.  

The String Quartet No. 2 is remarkably satisfying. Conceived as a single movement, it conveniently subdivides into five clear sections. The opening Siciliana is retrospective: it generates much of the material for the succeeding divisions. There follows a faster Alla marcia which presents harmonically and contrapuntally dissonant material of considerable interest. The central section, Come prima (Appassionata), builds on the opening Siciliana, and leads to a “powerful and passionate climax”. A fleet of foot Scherzo follows before the confident return of the quartet’s opening material.