String Quartet for Two Instruments was written in 1983, during a visit to Jerusalem. The reason for this title is that for much of the piece, four distinct lines of counterpoint are played by the two instruments. The effect is to combine the richness of a string quartet sound with the precision of ensemble and virtuostic character of a duet.

The piece is based on an old Yiddish folk melody to which new words were written in 1942. This version, by Hirsch Glick, is entitled Shtill dee Nacht iz oys geshternt, which, loosly translated, goes as follows:

Silent,the night is full of stars
and the frost is burning cold.
Oh, do you remember?
I taught you to hold a pistol in your hand.

A girl in a fur coat and a beret
and you held a hand grenade
a girl with eyes as soft as velvet
and you blew up a Nazi convoy.