Maria Newman's Music for String Quartet - Book I opens with her String Quartet No. 2 - Laudes. This piece was commissioned in 1998 by the Icicle Creek Music Festival in Leavenworth, Washington, for performance by the Kairos String Quartet. Roughly translated from the Latin, "Lauds" means "From darkness into light." On this album, Lauds is performed by the Malibu Coast String Quartet.

String Quartet No. I - The Birthday of the Infanta was commissioned in 1995 by the Icicle Creek Chamber Music Festival in celebration of its Inaugural Season.  The piece was premiered that same year by the Kairos String Quartet. The quartet is based on the short story The Birthday of the Infanta, by master storyteller Oscar Wilde. The short story, which appears in Wilde's short story collection A House of Pomegranates, tells the tale of a young hunchbacked dwarf who is captured and taken from his forest home to dance before the Princess of Spain in celebration of her twelfth birthday. After the Infanta expresses amusement at the dwarf's performance, he mistakenly believes her to be in love with him. String Quartet No. I - The Birthday of the Infanta has been performed across the country and was adapted into a ballet by the Malibu Coast Chamber Ballet. On this album, The Birthday of the Infanta is performed by the Kairos String Quartet.  

To read The Birthday of the Infanta, visit Project Gutenberg.