For my second string quartet, I wanted to move away from the wide-open major key feeling of New Frontiers, to something compressed and barely contained. In my head, all I could think was, “what would a progressive rock quartet sound like?”

We’ve heard strings do covers of rock and metal songs, but all too often they are imitating the ferocious rhythms of drums and electric guitars. I wanted this to feel like an epic piece of progressive rock, but rather than sticking to power chords, I wanted to have the full harmonic and tonal width of a string quartet. What’s more this needed to happen at speed, and not just feel like a ballad.

The result was this. Frenetic Energy that I was able to write in a few weeks. It’s a piece I enjoy, and one that I hope will be a fun challenge to string players.