String Quartet No. 2, “Sweet Insanity” (2006)
Duration: 9’
Premiered by the Arditti Quartet in an abbreviated version on March 26, 2006, at New York University. Expanded to its present form for performance by the Avalon Quartet on the Washington Square Contemporary Music Ensemble series, Dec. 14, 2006, Merkin Concert Hall (New York, NY).
“…Sweet Insanity was imbued with a similarly eclectic palette. A short minor third-laden motive was explored in a set of lyrical contrapuntal variations and then used as the basis for a modernist fantasia filled with glissandi, aggressively articulated dissonant chords, and rock-influenced energetic solos. Sweet Insanity proved to be a successful hybridization of seemingly disparate elements.”