String Quartet No. 2 is dedicated to the victims of the holocaust and all holocausts past, present and future. The composition has four movements each of which is bound to the motto that begins three of the movements, each movement spinning off in different directions from the pitch material proclaimed by the motto. Movement 4 utilizes all of the material from the previous three movements, reinterpreting the music in a new light. The relationship to the holocaust in the music is more expressive and emotional rather than specific with the exception of the third movement, a passacaglia over a bass which melody is derived from the hymn "Ani Maamin" (I believe), a melody that was sung in the death camps by many suffering Jews.

View the score for opening of the first movement below: