Morris Rosenzweig

String Quartet

Composer's Note:

Quartet was co-commissioned by the Abramyan Quartet and the Koussevitzky Foundation in the Library of Congress.

The work was written between September 1996 and February 1997. It is dedicated to the Abramyan Quartet and to the memory of Serge and Natalie Koussevitzky.

One preoccupation concerning the writing of this work had to do with finding a process which would facilitate the construction of each movement in such a way that each maintained their respective identities, while at the same time complementing and reflecting one another. In order to achieve this goal, various forms of both contrast and unity were employed in making the work's global design and local detail. Each movement is composed using a distinct methodology in an effort to achieve balance in the quartet's structure as a whole.

About 19 minutes long, the three-movement work is cast in a traditional fast-slow-fast pattern. The first movement, Fantasia, kinetic, gestural and energetic, is freely written and is structured using a network of associated motives. The second movement is a set of seven variations based on a simple, quiet, lyrical theme played in unison at the beginning of the movement. These variations consist of differing characters, a serenade, a waltz, a scherzo, etc. The sixth variation functions as the work's scherzo, thereby enclosing a movement inside of a movement. The last movement is a rondo, in which the rondo theme reappears not in its traditional repeated form, but as a succesion modular units which are flexibly reassembled and made new with each appearance. Its last sounding gives way to extensive change and brings on the end of the piece