Today was supposed to be completion day for my concerto. Unfortunately, I haven't written a single note since the last time I posted. I've been very busy here with teaching and work, plus I am thinking about something new, possibly a string quartet. (I had dinner with the Kronos Quartet last week, if you haven't already heard.) I've also been considering a sinfonietta piece. I have a couple started already, which I may continue, but maybe I'll start from scratch.
A string quartet? Yes, I have three already, and none have been properly performed. No. 1 was played in a workshop-concert in Aspen back in 1987. It has some good things about it, and a lot of it I really like, but it needs a rewrite in the middle. I was working on the second quartet at the same time, and it's more complex. It's a little longer, and I've had the quartet that I was writing for read it, but again, there are some things I'm not happy with. It probably needs a complete rewrite. The third quartet was originally meant as a joke, a piece "in C" for a competition. Again, it has some things I really like, but there are some parts in the middle that just seem a little square. It was performed on a workshop-concert in Dartington in 1990.
Do I fix one of them, or do I start afresh? That's my dilemma for this summer.
Meanwhile, the second movement of my Symphony No 2 is on WCNY's Fresh Ink at 2 pm ET TODAY. If you aren't near Syracuse, you can listen on wcny.org, live only as I don't believe the station has listen-again facilities.
