String Quartet No.2 ‘After Cromer’
I Presto. Allegro molto e Drammatico –
II Andante
III Scherzo: Allegro Giocoso
IV Finale: Vivo

In 2005 I was one of a number of composers invited to compose a short prelude for organ based upon an English hymn tune called ‘Cromer’ for a summer festival concert in Norfolk. Shortly after composing this piece, I began work on a new quartet for the Chilingirian Quartet, a long-standing commitment from 2002. Having now become rather interested in the hymn tune, and feeling there was more I could do with it, I began to explore it further in the new quartet. Consequently all four movements grew from the opening bars of the hymn tune: I was pleased with the structural organicism which the tune provided and also the spirit of the words ‘O let the heart sing high with Bliss,’ which surely is a good enough aspiration for any piece. The slow movement is a re-working of the original organ work, and follows the first movement without a break.