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II. Texas Two Step [5:03]  

III. Slowest Waltz   [6:33] 

         (Notes updated to November 23, 2023) My second composition, in 1972, was a string quartet, performed at Phillips Academy, Andover Massachusetts, before I had been told how formidable a task it is to add to the literature. Soon after, it was discarded. In 2003 I wrote Nocturne and Minuet for string quartet, and I arranged it for string orchestra or string quintet. It is intended for student players in its technical demands. There are four piano quintets; the chamber version of Chamber Concerto, Variations on the Grosse Fuge, Cubic Deviations, and  Popular Music of Planet X, all of which have orchestral versions. Also, the Mantra Cantata chamber version is for piano quintet and four-part chorus.
          This piece was the first time I wrote a string quartet that calls on the capability of highly skilled musicians, which has allowed greater depth and intensity. It also was the first music I wrote with the possibility of dance intended from conception. As such, the movements are restricted in rhythmic ambiguity, and there is only one short instance of meter change within a movement in the finale. It is more customary in my music to have more complex rhythms and meter changes that would make choreography difficult.
          The first and third movements are waltzes, a form I find very useful and which crops up quite a few times in other scores. The tempo marking in the first movement is a reference to a local classical radio station that, after many years of very conservative programming, included new music from 2010 to 2023 hidden away late on Sunday nights, including some of mine from time to time. (They have since changed their minds, and no longer broadcast any new music by any composer.) The second movement, Texas Two Step, pays at least nominal tribute to the state of my birth and home for many years. I can’t claim much authenticity in its two-stepness but at least it’s fairly up-tempo and in 4/4, and appropriate for a formal and rather crazed square dance. The last movement, Wild Gypsy Fling, stems from the inspired fiddling and great musicianship of the Roma people. I have long admired George Enescu for his violin playing and composition, and have put a little of his flavor into this finale. Although 40 generations removed from their homeland in India, the Roma were originally musicians in a huge Vishnu temple complex, which is harmonious with my personal spiritual practice.
          This quartet is one of a series of pieces written for Ananda-Eric Pritchard, first violinist of the Ciompi Quartet of Duke University.  At Eric’s request, I arranged this work for violin and piano (March 7—April 7 2009), which was recorded by him and Randall Love at Duke in October 2009 for a CD of my music.