Maestoso
Feroce
Andante molto sostenuto
Molto vivace

My second string quartet took a Haydn quartet as its starting point. Beethoven is the starting point for three movements of the present work but rather than a single quartet, a number of Beethoven movements were used. In each case, a particular technical feature was the catalyst. In the first movement, there are three distinct speeds. As with Beethoven, in some cases actual changes in tempo are marked. In others, the illusion of a change is created by the use of longer or shorter note values. The second movement is intended to have ?Scherzoid? character, to use a neologism coined by Hans Keller but as with the Beethoven model, the formal divisions that normally characterise a scherzo are missing. The third movement departs from any direct connection with Beethoven. Its starting point is a discussion, again by Hans Keller in The Great Haydn Quartets of the very full texture of the slow movement of Haydn?s Op.20, no.1. He remarked that hardly any composer, other than Haydn succeeded with this kind of string quartet writing. Naturally, this was an irresistible challenge! The fourth movement returns to Beethoven as a starting point and here the connection would be at its most obvious if you happen to know the original. However, these are no more than starting points and for that reason, I don?t identify the movements as the quartet is intended to be self-sufficient. I was certainly never conscious of ?channelling my inner Beethoven?, as I wouldn?t be presumptuous enough to believe that I had one!

The work was composed in the summer of 2017 and first performed by the Brompton Quartet at St Paul?s Church, Brighton on the 21st March 2022 in a concert marking my 60th birthday.