In this String Quartet No. 2 (Bent Out Of Shape/Speakings) (2019), as in my first Quartet "Litost" 1985, commissioned by the Kronos Quartet, I am working with the concept I call "extra- musical instruments". In this concept, in addition to the perfomers playing their main instruments, they also play other instruments. In the "Litost" quartet, the players played suspended cymbal, triangle, small bells and they all wore ankle bells. In this quartet No 2, the perfomers also use the voices along with playing.

The text is created for its sonic value and basically has no real meaning. Although some of the sounds came from the voices I heard on the streets of Paris and New York. Something someone said would catch me ear and I would remember it. The performers must speak the words in an expressive way as if they had true meaning, thus creating an intimacy and a world between them.

This work is full of abrupt changes and different moods, hence the tittle "Bent Out Of Shape", which means that nothing really works for long, there is always a change or a breakdown of some kind.

The quartet finally ends with the sound of the breath, the sound of breathing, creating an atmosphere of stillness and rest.