My first string quartet was a kind of unofficial graduation piece. If I used opus numbers, I would probably call it my Op.1. Although I have moved a long way away from it stylistically in the last thirty-seven years, it is still a very significant work for me. It was the first piece that I took to Hans Keller that earned his unqualified approval and sadly, the last that I showed him before his death soon afterwards. The work is therefore dedicated to his memory.

At the time, I was preoccupied with combining all the contrasts of a multi-movement work into a single continuous movement that should itself be condensed to ensure maximum concentration. All the elements of a first movement, scherzo, adagio and finale are present but not always in consecutive order. Bits of each are interwoven so there is rarely a sense that the music 'settles down'. The end of the piece is supposed to give the sense of an uneasy pause, rather than any feeling of closure.

The work was first performed in December 1992 in an ISCM concert in Bucharest. Its first UK performance was given by the Stanford Quartet at Dartington International Summer School in August 2009.