SKU: PR.144404550

UPC: 680160030859.

After finishing a serious woodwind quintet in the fall of 2001 [Tela Lacerata], I found, in the ensuing months, that its cinders/ashes were still impregnating my eardrums. Therefore, when I set out to write the present string piece, I realized that the musical veins of the quartet, like related cousins, were sharing the same blood as the earlier wind composition. The resultant Fifth Quartet evolved into two large, extended movements, each one containing seven parts that are played without pause. As the list of the various sub-sections clearly indicates, the formal structure of the movements appear to be identical: each with three main parts enveloped by interludes, plus an introduction and coda. However, the principal segments of the first (slow) movement gradually decrease in length, while those of the second (fast) movement increase. In addition, there is a goodly amount of sonic material stolen from the first movement which reappears -- stitched together in a new guise -- into the world of the second. for example, the bulk of Parts B and C of Movement II are lifted bodily, although elaborately modified, from their first appearances in the Introduction and Part A of the fist movement. This offers, I suppose at least a hint of a traditional recapitulation. As was true in the earlier woodwind piece -- both harmonically and melodically -- the embryonic growth of the musical fabric (primarily the tritone and perfect fifth) is omnipresent, almost obsessively, throughout the course of the whole work. These two intervals, not unlike plasticine, habitually transform themselves into the scales, chords, and melodic lines that pervade the texture of the quartet. Owing to the largely unrelieved dramatic flow, the shifting speed, and the often fervent intensity, the quartet places considerable demands on the dexterity, virtuosity, and stamina of the four performers. String Quartet No. 5 is approximately 22 minutes in duration and affectionately dedicated to my violinist wife Elizabeth, as a gift for our 47 years together. It was commissioned by the Corigliano String Quartet, New York, NY. -- Sydney Hodkinson.

SKU: HL.14031801

7.0x10.0x0.28 inches.

Sir Arthur Bliss (1891-1975) was a British composer and conductor. He studied under Wood and Stanford at Cambridge and the Royal College of Music, where he met and drew inspiration from Vaughan Williams, Holst, Howells, and Goossens. He was appointed Master of the Queen's Music in 1953 and wrote music for many state occasions, including the Coronation and the Funeral of Winston Churchill.

The String Quartet No.1 in Bb Major was first published in 1941. It was actually the third String Quartet Bliss composed, but the first two were early works which he withdrew or lost. It was written in America in 1940 and first performed inBerkeley, California; it became the last work he wrote before he returned to Britain to help the war effort.

SKU: HL.14031811

5.75x8.25x0.335 inches.

SKU: MA.EMR-56186

Possible instrumentations:

String Quartet and Piano (Piano / Guitar, Bass Guitar, Drums, Percussion (optional))
String Quartet (Piano / Guitar, Bass Guitar, Drums, Percussion (optional)).