At the suggestion of the wonderful Kuss Quartet, I am returning after a long absence to the genre of the string quartet – that chamber music ensemble which, with its intensity, homogeneity, and inexhaustible sonic diversity, has for centuries been regarded as a unique realm of musical thought.

The title Cahier des équilibres mouvants (Notebook of Shifting Equilibria) – refers to a formally interlinked collection of constantly transforming musical states.

The starting point was the idea o...