String Quartet #2 reflects my thoughts on a long career as a composer, and the prospect of it all, sooner or later, coming to an end. Not that I’m becoming morbid, but simply aware of my time of life and wishing to bequeath a tired world something of beauty and thoughtfulness. The first movement is the most « academic » in that it utilises a melodic pattern of increasing intervals, going up by semitones -2nd to +7th. It is thus the most dissonant of the movements. The second movement quotes a song from a 13th century Liturgical Drama called « Ludus Danielis » (« The Play of Daniel »), My wife, Andrea Mellis, asked me to arrange the old melodies for an ensemble of period instruments. She then directed a couple of stunning performances in Austria in 2022 (and hopefully more). I fell in love with one of the melodies and made it the basis of my second movement. The third is a chattering conversation, a busy counterpoint with a sad section in the middle, and the last is a Chaplinesque, crooked march into the sunset.