In Pittsburgh on today’s date in 1996, the Latin-American Quartet of Mexico gave the premiere of the Third String Quartet of American composer David Stock. Stock is probably best known for his orchestral music: He was composer-in-residence with both the Pittsburgh and Seattle Symphonies, writing large-scale works for those ensembles, and also for the New York Philharmonic.

But Stock wrote several string quartets as well. His first was a student work that premiered in Paris. The second is subtitled “Speaking Extravagantly” after a quote by Charles Ives that, “Perhaps music is the art of speaking extravagantly.”

Stock’s Third Quartet is a more personal work: its Scherzo movement, concludes with a set of variations on “Happy Birthday”—a tribute to the composer’s wife on the occasion of her 50th.

In addition to composing and teaching, Stock was an advocate for other composers’ works. For 23 years, Stock served as director of the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, and as host of a weekly radio series on WQED in that city.

And speaking of radio, in 2001 Stock conducted the Charlottesville Symphony in the first performance of an orchestral piece entitled “Drive Time,” music Stock described as “an updated version of the music usually programmed on Public Radio during the morning and evening drive time slots, hence the title."