/ Quatuor A Cordes
SKU: HL.14020978
ISBN 9781844498802. 5.5x7.5x0.147 inches.
The second of the Quartets commissioned by the Naxos label was completed in January 2003. This work swings between nervous virtuosic energy to the serene calm of an extended Lento, with exotic harmonies reminiscent of Bartok, and is characterised by it's sharp and unpredictable contrasts. First performed by the Maggini Quartet on 11 July 2003 at the Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham, as part of the Cheltenham International Festival. This is the score in a pocket-size format. The set of parts is available, catalogue number CH66594-01.
SKU: SU.29120030
String Quartet No. 2 is in three movements. The 1st movement engages from the opening bar with fast paced, off kilter 7/8 tutti rhythms and sharp-edged harmonies. This is a kind of musical caffeine living between tonal and polytonalism with rich, sliding chords and a haunting middle section reminiscent of Armenian folks tunes. The 2nd movement offers emotional storytelling with clear tonality but with moments of more complex stacked harmonies and tension. The 3rd movement is lively with raw energy. Voices are rapidly interchanged in a dance of weaving motivic development until the satisfying rush of notes to the end.String Quartet Duration: 15' Composed: 2019 Published by: Todd Mason String Quartet No. 2 (Youtube):.
SKU: HL.48025155
ISBN 9781705175545. UPC: 196288097921.
Includes: F. Geminiani: Duett (2 Violinen) W. Pichl: Duett (Violine und Viola) L. Borghi: Duett (Violine und Violoncello) L.v. Beethoven: Duett (Viola und Violoncello) J.C. Bach: Trio (2 Violinen und Viola) F. Benda: Trio (2 Violinen und Violoncello) F. Schubert: Trio (Violine, Viola und Violoncello) S. Sechter: Quartett (2 Violinen, Viola und Violoncello) Set of Parts.
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SKU: PR.114406980
UPC: 680160010806.
Shulamit Ran’s second string quartet, subtitled “Vistas,” occupies a large canvas that is cast in a traditional fourmovement mold, where the outer movements present, explore, and later return to the work’s principal musical materials, surrounding a slow movement and scherzo-type third movement with a trio. In addition to tempo-based titles, the individual movements have subtitles that are evocative of each movement’s character, as follows: I. Concentric: from the inside out II. Stasis III. Flashes IV. Vistas.My second string quartet, “Vistas”, is a work cast in a traditional four-movement formal mold, with the outer movements, presenting and later returning to the work’s principal musical materials, surrounding a slow movement and a scherzo-type third movement.While the four movements’ “proper” names -- Maestoso con forza, Lento, Scherzo impetuoso, and Introduzione; Maestoso e grande – give some indication of the general character of the individual movements, I have also subtitled, less formally, each movement as follows: 1) Concentric: from the inside out 2) Stasis 3) Flashes 4) Vista. The images evoked by these titles tell one, I think, a bit more about the inner workings of the quartet.In the first movement, a prominently presented opening pitch (E) reveals itself, as the movement unfolds, to be a center of gravity from which ever-growing cycles of activity gradually evolve. While various important themes come into being as the movement progresses, their impact on the listener has, I believe, a great deal to do with their juxtaposition and relationship to the initial central point of gravity.Stasis is, as the name implies, a movement where activity seems, at times, almost suspended. Being also, as Webster’s Dictionary reminds us, “a state of static balance and equilibrium among opposing tendencies or forces,” it develops various materials, including ones from the first movement, without bringing them to points of resolution.Flashes is short and very fast, evoking in my mind the quick shimmer of fireflies, a “sudden burst of light”, but also a “brief time”. Perhaps, even, a “smile”?Finally, the last movement, Vista, is not only “a view or outlook”, but also “a comprehensive mental view of a series of remembered or anticipated events.” After a brief recall of the opening of the second movement, this movement brings back all the important themes of the first movement in their original order. But just as going back can never really mean going back in time, the movement is much more than recapitulatory. By cutting through previously transitory passages and presenting the main ideas in a fashion more direct yet more evolved, it also sheds new light on earlier events, offering a retrospective, synoptic view of the first movement as it brings to culmination the work as a whole. “Vistas” was commissioned by C. Geraldine Freund for the Taneyev String Quartet of what was then Leningrad. It was the first commission given in this country to a Soviet chamber ensemble since the 1985 cultural exchange accord between the Soviet Union and the United States.
SKU: FG.55011-510-1
ISBN 9790550115101.
Matthew Whittall's preface to Bright Ferment (2019): I have a complicated history with the string quartet. Actually, it's not that complicated. I spent months writing a huge one in my early twenties and hastily withdrew it after a long delayed premiere, vowing never to write another. In a typical case of karmic retribution, my fear of the form would eventually be overcome by the unrefusable offer to write the compulsory piece for the Banff International String Quartet Competition in my native Canada. The short duration requested, about nine minutes, also felt like a good way to wade gingerly back into the medium. The title was originally just a nice-sounding pair of words that surfaced in a brainstorming session with fellow composer Alex Freeman over an injudicious amount of fermented barley. When I looked it up later, I found that it was a phrase of older coinage, seemingly used more for poetic resonance than any fixed meaning. Ferment by itself denotes a state of confusion, change or lack of order. With bright, it takes on a more positive connotation with regard to society and creativity: a wild profusion of ideas barely checked by reason. (It may not actually mean that, but it describes this piece nicely, so let's go with it.) Fermentation in its trendy culinary usage is also hinted at via a recurrent percolating device of scattered pizzicati. As one may guess from the tone of this introduction, there is little attempt at gravity in Bright Ferment, the only means by which I felt I could sidestep the historical and expressive weight of the string quartet genre. Styles, gestures and moods are tossed around, cross-cut and abandoned in stream-of-consciousness fashion, connected by little except an intuitive sense of rightness in their juxtaposition. If the piece acquires depth in spite of me, it will only be because its disparate parts amplify and strengthen each other simply by being together - much like the ensemble itself. Bright Ferment was commissioned by the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, with additional funding from the Americas Society (New York), for the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition. Duration: ca. 9 minutes.
SKU: HL.14028273
The String Quartet No.1 was composed in 1919, actually making it his fourth quartet, but it was the first to be published. It is scored in five movements: Prelude- Pastorale- Scherzo- Elegy- Rondo Retrospectivo.
Cyril Scott (1879-1970) was a British composer, pianist and poet. His most popular works, by which he is largely remembered today, were written in the years preceding the Second World War, however he continued to compose prolifically, in the face of indifference from the outside world, right up until his death at the age of 91. His music is predominantly in the Romantic style, and serves as a tasteful reminder of abygone age.