Scored For String Quartet. Commissioned by the New Arts String Quartet, first performed in Tokyo November 1996.
Quoting Tanaka: The title Metal Strings suggests speed metal rock music which I have been listening to a lot in recent years. I find an explosive energy in its music that people of today thirst for. Previously I have explored solid, speedy and metallic sound in pieces such as 'Wave Mechanics' (1994), 'Wave Mechanics II' (1994) and 'Metalic Crystal' (1994-95). This idea has been extended and developed in my string quartet, Metal Strings.