String Quartet No. 8 is the eighth of the 'numbered' quartets. Some other unnumbered quartets have been composed for film and theater productions - as in the films Dracula and Bent. String Quartet No. 8 is meant as a concert work, and cast in a traditional three part 'fast-slow-fast' format. It is based on a free mixture of neoclassical and traditional harmonic music, which adds a playful and whimsical flavor to the otherwise solemn string quartet repertoire. - Philip Glass, January 2018