Joan Tower: In Memory: Streichquartett

The second String Quartet by Joan Tower is a short but complex work addressing thoughts of death and loss, written in memory of an old friend. The piece was commissioned by, and is dedicated to, the Tokyo String Quartet who firstperformed the piece in February 2002 at the 92nd Street Y, New York City.
Further inspired by the events in New York on September 11th 2001, the writing contains high, sustained, celestial material which slowly descends. Thiswriting is paired with more forceful, driving and repetitive musical ideas that attempt to express the anger and pain that results from the loss of people in one's life.