String Quartet No. 2.

Performances in Conway Hall (Chilingirian Quartet); Wigmore Hall, London. The score is published by Music Haven. Research questions addressed in this commissioned piece focus on the issue of the contemporary validity of the genre, and the notion of the 'musical idea' as a (generative) compositional pretext; the piece equally seeks to draw, through critical reflection and creative invention, on more contingent aspects of contemporary musical language and idiom. Composition for the string quartet was very variable in the 20thC and may well have been found to be challenging, perhaps because of the technical demands of the medium which requires concentrated writing for four homogeneous string instruments with limited timbral and textural devices on which to rely. This piece, reviewed in the context of recent work for other British string quartets, is an attempt at a creative reappraisal of the genre, while contributing to the development of a national profile. Quartet No.2 is based on a musical idea that I first used in an organ prelude commissioned in 2005, itself based on the 19thC English hymn tune "Cromer". The Quartet attempts to exploit further expressive possibilities of this melody and its treatment in the organ work, providing the central organic idea for all four movements. The work continues my commitment to achieving structural coherence through organic motific growth and aesthetic uniformity. The idea of organic growth from one central idea has been often explored in modern orchestral works (e.g. Saxton, Matthews, Sackman) but the application of this approach to the quartet medium is an entirely new one.