To see a World in a grain of sand (2022). Nina Šenk: “The title of my second string quartet is taken from the first line of a poem by William Blake titled Auguries of Innocence. It is not the poem itself that was the inspiration for this piece but only the first line: “To see a world in a grain of sand”.
I took the similar approach when structuring the piece. I start with a very small object/material – one pitch – that gains more and more depth and width. It is a very soft piece that gains more and more density towards the middle of the piece, which doesn’t mean it gets louder, quite the opposite: the denser the structure gets, the gentler should the fast virtuosic lines be played.”

Silent Flowers for string quartet (1998). Toshio Hosokawa’s compositions for string quartet reveal manifold linkages with traditional Japanese arts: music, poetry, calligraphy, ink painting, and philosophy of this cultural sphere inspired him to compose his works. His relationship to sounds is therefore fundamentally Asian, based on the idea of permanent transformation: in these string quartets, there is not a single sound whose character is not continuously modified by glissandos, trills, tremolos, harmonics, vibratos of different sorts, constantly shifting dynamics, and various bowings, by which the individual note is transformed into a dynamic structure. Hosokawa’s compositional esthetic is influenced decisively by his relationship to nature: “I have always wished to compose works which might become part of the sounds of nature, the sound of the cosmos.” Both pitches and natural sounds are for Hosokawa natural objects and therefore means for existential experience and transcendence. But Hosokawa has on occasion mentioned that the specific sounds in his string quartets are not only derived from the fertile ground of Asian spirituality, but also from the scores of western modern and avant-garde composers; he has also indicated that it is not his intention to perpetuate divisions between Europe and Asia: “I would not like to emphasize the leaves and branches of the different kinds of music that have developed within the two spheres of eastern and western culture, but rather find the common aspects that exist in the roots out of which both have grown.”

shott-music.com

nec ros, nec pluvia… [neither dew nor rain…]

Neither dew nor rain sheds mercy on these sun-scorched rocks.
A haze of soundless sand bares the way of the wind.
The muteness of the desert pushes back light, wards off water and life.
Invisible tracks lead to the other side of solitude, into the bleakness of the night.
The fog passes.
Sleep settles.

(Helena Tulve, loosely based on Desert by Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, translation into English Tõnis Tootsen)

Toivo Tulev: “Neither This nor the Further Shore” (‘ei see ega teine kallas’) for string quartet and tape was completed in the summer of 2000 and is dedicated to Tõnu Tulev (1955–1999). The premiere took place at Tallinn Town Hall in the spring of 2001, performed by the Tallinn String Quartet. The lines heard on the tape are from the Dhammapada.

String Quartet No. 3 Grido  (2000/2001). Helmut Lachenmann: “For me, composing means, if not “solving a problem”, then indeed ecstatically grappling with a traumatic dilemma; confronting the technical challenges of composition (perceived and adopted) so as to bring about a resolution. While this situation, per se, is not new to me, it nonetheless remains alien, for it is in this that I lose myself, and in so doing truly find myself again. I know that sounds enigmatic, yet in different ways, every “problem”, every “traumatic dilemma” embodies the categorical question of the possibility of authentic music. [—] Grido, “shout” or “crying” in Italian, is a personal dedication to the present members of the Arditti Quartet (Graeme Jennings, Rohan de Saram, Irvine Arditti, and Dov Scheindlin). It also satisfies a request from Irvine Arditti for me to write a louder piece than my two previous quartets.” Commissioned by the Melbourne Festival. 

The Arditti Quartet has performed Helmut Lachenmann’s String Quartet no. 3 Grido many times since its premiere in Melbourne in 2001. It’s their most-performed piece written in this century; they have also recorded it several times. They say: “It’s been fascinating to learn and perform so often over a long period. It’s a driving, energetic piece with a mixture of Lachenmann’s own extended techniques and more ‘normal’ music, so there’s plenty for players to get their teeth into. Like many pieces we play, it relates to life in the 20th and 21st centuries, and there’s undoubtedly a sense of passion within it – but in a different way from a Classical or Romantic piece.” (thestrad.com, 23.11.2017)