string quartet
circa 5 minutes
 
PROGRAM NOTES by the composer:
"Role Play" was written as both a study on metric-modulation and an exploration of the various "roles" that each part plays within a traditional string quartet. At the start of the piece, the traditional roles of the string quartet are reversed – the cello has the melody, the viola has an alto role, the violin II has the tenor role and the violin I is the bass. Throughout each new section, a role is altered until at last, in the end, the traditional roles are assumed at the climax of the piece.