Second & Third String Quartets

When asked to sum up how he would characterize his two String Quartets - influenced by the sound world of Bruckner and Schoenberg - Michael Finnissy answered, 'rich and chewy'! Despite having no score, Michael Finnissy's Second Quartet is 'based on a compact Haydn model' and traces of it's antecedent can be discerned within it. Composer Judith Weir says she regards Finnissy as the most important living British composer.