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  Nigel Keay - String Quartet No.2 (1995)
Streichquartett II  -  Quatuor à cordes N° 2  -  Quartetto d'archi n. 2  -  cuarteto de cuerdas n° 2
 
  1. Tempo giusto, (ca. 4' 50")
  2. Lento ed espressivo, (ca. 5' 46")
  3. Moderato. (ca. 5' 30")   Total duration: 16' 09"
  Audio of String Quartet No. 2: First movement mp3, Second movement mp3, Third movement mp3. Performed by Eugene Lee (first violin), Charmian Keay (second violin), Joe Ichinose (viola), & Gabriel Casalis (cello)  
 
     
 
 

String Quartet No.2 was composed in Devonport, Auckland, between November 1994 and February 1995 with financial assistance provided by the New Zealand Composers’ Foundation and the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa. The writing of the quartet was inspired by a love of the medium, particularly as a viola player having played two late quartets by Beethoven (op. 132 & 135) and the opus 74 quartet in close proximity to the composition. The first performance was given at the Watershed Theatre, Auckland on the 10th March 1995 by Simon McLellan & Sarah Hart (violins), Judith Williams (cello) and with the composer as violist.

Denys Trussell wrote in a subsequent review (Quote Unquote, April 1995): "Nigel Keay...had his substantial and dramatic Second Quartet given its first performances at these concerts. It is in part a synthesis of the strictly modernist and the freer post-modernist harmonic constructions: Keay is moving away from a music of sustained dissonance in this work towards a music where consonance and dissonance interact. The middle movement, slow and introspective, is a striking instance of this."

Since then String Quartet No.2 has established itself as one of the composer’s most-performed, and most widely-performed works having been played in New Zealand, Thailand, Japan, France and Germany by several different formations.

Nigel Keay's Second String Quartet was performed at the 17th Conference and Festival of the Asian Composers League in Bangkok by the Ensemble Contemporary Alpha (Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music), and at the “Stella Nova” Concerts in Tokyo.

It has been performed several times in New Zealand by the Nevine String Quartet (Elizabeth Patchett & Janet Armstrong - violins, Peter Barber - Viola, & Robert Ibell - Cello (members of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra)) whose first performance of it was in 1997 (see programme pdf). A recording of their performance in 2002 was broadcast by Radio New Zealand's Concert station and can be heard on its Resound page along with an introduction by Kenneth Young.

String Quartet No.2 has also been performed also in NZ by the Ensemble Philharmonia (members of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra), and was performed in 2004 & 2005 in Paris and Germany by the Quatuor Aphanès.

In 2011 the Quartet was released on the Blumlein Records CD Music for Small Groups (CD-A023) performed by Eugene Lee, Charmian Keay, Joe Ichinose & Gabriel Casalis. This version was broadcast on Radio France Musique in August 2013.

See also: String Quartet No.1 (1983)

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Performance History:

First performance: Watershed Theatre, Auckland, 10th, 11th & 12 March 1995 by Simon McLellan & Sarah Hart (violins), Judith Williams (cello) Nigel Keay (viola). Programme PDF

Ensemble Contemporary Alpha (The Tokyo National University of fine Arts and Music), Tuesday, December 5th, 1995 (8pm) in the Chulalongkorn University Auditorium as part of the 17th Conference and Festival of the Asian Composers League held in Bangkok (2-9 December 1995).

Nevine String Quartet, Saint Andrew's on the Terrace, Wellington, NZ, 25th June 1997. Programme PDF.

Quatuor de Capriccio (Geoffroy Voisin and Estelle Fouillet - violins, Nigel Keay - viola, and Amélie Mabire - cello), la Maison de Quartier de Venoix, Caen, 5pm Sunday 7th May 2000.

Nevine String Quartet, 22nd September 2002 in the Ilott Theatre, Wellington. Recorded by RNZ.

Ensemble Philharmonia (Auckland) 23, 24 & 25 November 2002. Miranda Adams & Mark Bennett (violins), Christine Bowie (viola), Claudia Price (cello). Saturday, Nov. 23, 12 noon, Auckland City Art Gallery Theatre, Sunday, Nov. 24, 12 noon, Titirangi Community House, Monday, Nov. 25, 12 noon, Franklin Arts & Cultural Centre, Pukekohe.

Nevine String Quartet at Richmond Church on the Hill, Nelson, NZ on Friday 31st January 2003, (12.10pm-13.10pm) as part of the Adam New Zealand Festival of Chamber Music.

Quatuor Aphanès, Saturday 13 December 2003, 9pm at Eglise Saint-Denys d'Arcueil, Ile de France.

Quatuor Aphanès, Saturday 7th February 2004 at Eglise Saint Jean-Bosco de Paris. Programme PDF

Quatuor Aphanès, Kleines Theater Oberammergau at 8pm, Saturday 2nd October 2004, and in Bad Kohlgrub on 3rd October 2004.

Quatuor Aphanès, 11th January 2005 at the OECD, Paris for the War on Hunger Group of (OECD).

Quatuor Aphanès, Saturday 19th March 2005, 9pm at Eglise Saint-Germain de Charonne, Paris.

Performance by Daniel Rémy - violin 1, Iwona Janaillac - violin 2, Nigel Keay - viola and Dimitri Kindynis - cello for the France-NZ Association at a private concert in rue seguier, Paris on Thursday 3rd May 2007, 8.30pm

Poster of Leonis concertKorutet, Wednesday 24th September 2014, 7.30pm. at One2One Café (121 Ponsonby Rd, Auckland NZ).

Korutet, Wednesday 8th October 2014, 20h30, at the Église protestante unie de Pentemont, 106 rue de Grenelle, Paris 7ème.

Quatuor Leonis, 22nd March 2015 at Théâtre de l'Aquarium, La Cartoucherie, Vincennes, Paris. Poster of concert (jpg)

Quatuor Leonis, Friday 29th May, 2015, 8.30pm, at the Maison du peuple, Fourchambault, France as part of their "Exiles" programme which also included works by Bartok & Damnianovitch.

Quatuor Leonis, 5th November 2015, 8.30pm at Théâtre de l'Aquarium, La Cartoucherie, Vincennes, Paris.