String Quartet No. 2, Op. 13 (2023)

After writing my first string quartet (published in November 2022), I felt immediately ready to write another, and both were very fulfilling tasks which helped to improve my craft. At the completion of each, I felt that it was my best work to date. My second string quartet in A is easily my largest work yet - over 30 minutes long, more than 1000 measures, and taking nearly three months to complete. At times I thought it might work well as my first symphony, but I concluded that the piece would fit better in the string quartet genre. Keep an ear out for a single primary motif found throughout the piece, being exposed for the first time at the end of the first movement, and finding its apotheosis as the subject for the variations in the final movement.
The exciting first movement takes the usual sonata form, but it has an unusual trithematic exposition. Each of the three themes appears in a different key (A major, G major, F♯ major - minor), and the development likewise is brimming with modulations. The middle section is varied, with chorale, canon, call-and-response, and even jazz-inspired episodes. An unmeasured tremolo on the chord of A major is played several times, and both opens and closes this movement.
The slow second movement is a stark contrast to the previous. The bleak A section is cast in E minor, and for the first two minutes it is rare to have more than two instruments playing at once. After a while, we hear a second theme played forte, while the music modulates to F minor. The B section of the movement begins with a quotation of an ancient Greek hymn in the Phrygian mode, followed by an episode on the whole-tone scale inspired by the aulos, a Greek instrument. The whole-tone scale continues in a pizzicato section, continuing to a twelve-tone row in the cello, before the whole B section is repeated. We then hear the A section again, followed by a short coda, recapitulating the twelve-tone row, whereupon the movement ends not in E minor, but on a G major chord.
The third movement is a medley of traditional Bulgarian dances in rondo form. First, the listener will hear a lively 6/8 theme in A minor. This is then followed by the Pravo Horo, a dance with groupings of three bars, and by the Daychovo Horo, in 2+2+2+3/8. After the first theme is repeated, the Tropanka is played, with heavy chords on open strings; the relatively light Padushko Horo comes after. After the final repetition of the refrain comes the G major Kopanitsa, in 11/8, which modulates several times via diminished seventh chords, before finally landing on A major. A coda based on the primary theme closes the movement.
The diverse fourth movement consists of a theme and twelve variations. With the addition of an introduction and one occurrence of a secondary theme, the piece can be analyzed as having three major sections, each having five episodes. The slow introduction establishes the key of A major, and in the theme we finally hear the A-E-C♯ motif expanded into sixteen bars. This theme is an homage to the late great composer Ben Johnston, inspired by his fourth and tenth quartets (based on “Amazing Grace” and “Danny Boy”, respectively). After three straightforward variations is a chorale theme in A minor, played without vibrato. The second major section begins with an Arabesque variation, using scales with augmented seconds, and it is followed by a desolato variation, two that are more lyrical, and a waltz. Next comes another occurrence of the chorale theme, now in F♯ minor. We hear three fast variations, then, as the piece is about to end, a lively theme previously unheard appears right before the final variation. After the last variation, the piece comes to its conclusion, quick, loud, and firmly in A major.
0:00 1. Overture (Allegro, A major)
8:05 2. Θρηνῳδία (Greek Threnody) (𝅗𝅥 = c. 60, E minor)
17:08 3. Танци (Bulgarian Dances) (♩. = 152, A minor - A major)
23:12 4. Variations (Largo - Andante - Allegretto quasi presto, A major)
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