String Quartet No. 5
LUKAS FOSS
Born August 15, 1922, Berlin

String Quartet No. 5 was composed in the year 2000. It is in four movements.

Movement No. 1 (Andantino Mysterioso) reveals an obsession with quarter notes mostly based on an inverted 9th chord (with the 5th, 7th or 9th at the bottom).

Movement No. 2 (Allegro Moderato) is not a fugue, but it is fugal.

Movement No. 3 (Variation on II, First Section), which serves as an introduction to the finale, is actually a long variation on section 1 of the 2nd movement.

And Movement No. 4 (Allegro Furioso, Variation on I) is a variation on the entire 1st movement. But the listener will not be aware of the fact that these are variations, since tempo and mood are so different. Variations are usually short and based on a theme, not on an entire movement. This may well be the piece of music in which 2 movements are transformations of 2 movements.

Quartet No. 5 was composed for and is dedicated to the wonderful Guarneri String Quartet.