for String Quartet. Par . / Date parution : 2023-01-24/ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

Par SCULTHORPE PETER. '. . .this snazzy piece (filled with folky references and odd percussion effects) takes the cake - a terrific, immediately entertaining and absorbing work.'San Francisco Chronicle (Heuwell Tircuit), 8 June 1986/ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

A selection of folk ballads from England Ireland Scotland and Wales.A ballad is the blending of words the beauty of melody tone rhythm and expression. They reflect the history of a people their legends religion love and work. British ballads are renouned for their verse melodic construction and for the enormous range of expression.1 The Lass of Richmond Hill is a poem by Leonard McNally a barrister about a lass who became his wife in 1787. The music is by James Hook (1746 1827).2 Sally in our Alley. The words are by Henry Carey who also wrote the original music but this was replaced by the tune we now know an English traditionalmelody in 1790.3 Caller Herrin'. The poem is by Lady Nairne (1766 1845). Nathaniel Gow the famous Scottish violinist wrote the music in 1798 as a harpsichord piece combining the traditional Edinburgh fish wives cry Caller Herrin' with the bells of St Andrew's Church Edinburgh.4 Men of Harlech. The music is traditionally Welsh and the ballad probably originated from North Wales where the native princes had ruled the longest.5 David of the White Rock (Dafydd y Garres Wen). Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) wrote the words to this ballad The Dying Bard. David Owen the Welsh bard of the ballad composed the tune on his death-bed on awakening from a trance in which be believed himself to have heard the tune in heaven.6 Oft in the Stilly Night. The words describe an old man's memories of the smiles the tears of boyhood years. The eyes that shone now dimmed and gone and how oft in the stilly night he remembers other days. The ballad is by the Irish poet Thomas Moore (1779 1852) who set the words to a traditional air.7- The Meeting of the Waters. Written by Thomas Moore music Irish traditional.The Meeting of the Waters is the confluence of the rivers Avonmore and Avonberg in a beautiful valley near Avoca County Wicklow.8 Oh! Charlie is my Darlin'. The

Quartet in C Minor is in four movements with a total duration of about 25 minutes. The opening Allegro is Dvorák-ish in its lyricism though there is a darker more brooding atmosphere towards the close. It is tempting to detect a hint of folk-song in the theme of the Andantino played by the Viola but that may be stretching hindsight too far. The movement has a wistful melancholy that carries over into the following Intermezzo a song-like episode containing some of the most virtuosic writing in the work. The last movement is a theme and six variations with a fugal ending. The theme is ballad-like with a suggestion of 18th-century elegance. Modality creeps into thesecond Adagio variation and there is rhythmic exhilaration in the succeeding Presto. What can be admired in this attractive quartet is its conciseness. This String Quartet was his first major composition of any kind.