he three pure quartet pieces - 'Aheym', 'Tenebre' and 'Little Blue Something' - were written for Kronos and in a way, each one is a response to one another. 'Aheym' was the first one I wrote that was written for Kronos for a specific concert in Brooklyn in 2009 I think, David asked me to write a piece that wasn't too quiet or too subtle and we talked about my background and my heritage and that my Grandmother is from Russia and her first language is Yiddish. So 'Aheym' is a Yiddish word and it means homeward. It was really written as a tribute to her and an evocation of her journey to America which is kind of an insane story, and that's why it has this sense of flight or passage to it. Usually with chamber music - or mood music, they call it - you don't expect it to be played more than once or twice, but Kronos basically adopted the piece and I think they have played it almost a hundred times now. In a way it was a success, the piece went well and they really liked it and played it a lot, so they asked me to write another piece.