Triple Quartet

It was commissioned by and is dedicated to the Kronos Quartet, and was premiered by them on May 22, 1999 in the Kennedy Center, Washington DC.

However, it is designed to be performed by only one string quartet through the use of prerecorded tracks for the other 8 voices.

The first movement goes through this harmonic cycle twice with a section about one minute long on each of the four dominant chords.

Rhythmically, the first movement has the second and third quartet playing interlocking chords while the first quartet plays longer melodies in canon between the first violin and viola against the second violin and cello.

The third movement resumes the original fast tempo and maintains the harmonic chord cycle, but modulates back and forth between keys more rapidly.