String Quartet No. 1 (“City Walks”)

A finalist for The American Prize for Chamber Music, String Quartet No. 1 (”City Walks”) is a single-movement work (c. 13′) exploring a variety of stylistic and emotional zones, from a sweeping, mournful – almost cantorial – cello solo at the beginning to lively scherzo finale. It is featured on the Juventas New Music Ensemble‘s 2026 album THROUGHLINES, available for streaming or download on all major platforms.

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MORE LISTENING

• Video score excerpt: Presto finale (YouTube • 3″)
• Video score excerpt: Lyrical “affectionate” theme (YouTube • 1’54”)
• THROUGHLINES album info and streaming links

PROGRAM NOTE
String quartets often rely on familiar multi-movement forms, but String Quartet No. 1 (“City Walks”) is a single-movement piece that unfolds as a continuous sequence of contrasting sections. Themes are constantly evolving, reappearing in new guises, and textures shift between transparency and density. The sense of direction comes less from traditional exposition and recapitulation than from moving through a chain of related “zones.” The structure is more like moving through different neighborhoods of the same musical city, where each new area carries traces of what has been heard before.

One of the earliest ideas for the piece was a simple, lyrical theme that appears first in a relaxed, sauntering guise, but resurfaces in more intense and less stable forms as the music unfolds. In contrast, the work opens with a contemplative cello solo over sustained, dense harmonies, increasingly plaintive, and almost cantorial in character. As the piece progresses, both ideas are stretched, intensified, and at times pushed toward melodrama, before giving way to darker, more rhythmically driven passages. The final section is more of a “city run,” as we hurtle into a frenetic final dash — an extended coda bringing the piece to an energetic close.