HARBOR MUSIC (String Quartet #2, 1992) follows my Quartet #1 by five years. In terms of style and aesthetic aim, however, it seems light years away. Where the first work, a 28 minute, four movement piece, took aim at cosmic conflicts and heroic resolutions, the present work is intended as a kind of divertissement. Harbor Music lasts a mere eleven minutes, is cast in a single movement with six sections and should leave both performers and listeners with a feeling of good humor and affection.

The title comes from my experience as a guest in the magnificent city of Sydney, Australia. One of it most attractive features is its unique system of ferry boats: the city is laid out around a large, multi-channeled harbor with destinations more easily approached by water than by land. Consequently, inhabitants of Sydney get around on small, people-friendly boats that come and go from the central docks at Circular Quay. During a week’s visit in 1991, I must have boarded these boats at least a dozen times, always bound for a new location – the resort town of Manley, or the Zoo at Taronga Park, or the shopping district at Darling Harbour.

In casting about a form for my second string quartet, a kind of loose rondo came to mind. Each new "destination" would be approached from the same starting-out point (although there are subtle variations in the repeating theme, it’s always in a new key and the texture is never the same). The result, I hope, is a sense of constant new information presented with introductory "frames" of a more familiar nature.

The "embarkation" theme, which begins the piece [and is heard here], is a sort of bi-tonal fanfare in which the violins are in G major and the viola and cello are in B-flat major. It is bold, eager and forward-looking. The first "voyage" maintains this bitonality, beginning as a 9/8 duet for second violin and viola in a kind of rocking motion – much as a boat produces when reaching the deeper water in the harbor. A sweet, nostalgic theme emerges over this rocking accompaniment. This music is developed somewhat, then transforms quickly into a much faster and lighter episode filled with rising and falling scales (again, in differing keys). A scherzando interlude in short notes and changing meters provides contrast, and the episode ends with a reprise of the scales.

The second "embarkation" follows, this time in A major/C major. It leads quickly into a very warm and slow theme, in wide-leaping intervals, for the viola. This section is interrupted twice by solo cadenzas for the cello, suggesting distant boat-horns in major thirds. The end of the episode becomes a transition, with boat-horns leading into the final appearance of the "embarkation" music, this time in trills and tremolos instead of sharply accented chords. The nostalgic theme of the first episode makes a final appearance, serving now as a coda. The rocking motion continues, in a lullabye fashion, leaving us drowsy and satisfied on our homeward journey.

Harbor Music was written for the Cavani Quartet and is dedicated to Richard J. Bogomolny. Commissioned by his employees at First National Supermarkets as a gift, it represents a "thank you" from many of the people (including this composer) who have benefited from his vision and generosity. An ardent advocate of chamber music (and a cellist himself), Mr. Bogomolny has for many years been Chairman of the Board of Chamber Music America.

– Notes by Dan Welcher