Dedicated to Thurston Dart Michael Nyman?s professor at King?s College London much of String Quartet No. 1 borrows and is inspired by the works of seventeenth century composer John Bull whosecomplete keyboard works Dart gave Nyman as a birthday present. The other main source of inspiration was Schöneberg?s Second String Quartet from the early 20th century.In his introduction to the piece Nymandescribes his two background ideas when composing the work: first to make an almost ?orchestral? chamber music and second to exorcise the impressive and oppressive history of the String quartet by making his work a compendium ofquotations from the quartet repertoire. Commissioned by the Arditti Quartet and first performed by them in 1985 String Quartet No. 1 has a duration of 25:44 minutes.Michael Nyman is an Englishcomposer of minimalist music pianist librettist and musicologist known for numerous film and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to ?The Piano?. He has additionally written a number of operas six concerti four stringquartets and many other chamber works.

Simon Holt's 3rd Quartet is the third of six pieces which make up a cycle with the overall title 'Terrain'. Lasting around 23 minutes this wonderful work is arranged for String Quartet and wasco-commissioned by The Radcliffe Trust NMC Recordings Internationales Musikfestival Heidelberger Fruhling and Wigmore Hall. The premiere was performed on 19th January 2015. This is the set of parts for 2 Violins Viola andCello. The six different compositions of which 3rd Quartet is the third are for different combinations of stringed instruments featuring Piano in the second piece. The music thatcomprises 3rd Quartet is drawn from the other parts of the cycle as a whole yet in a reverse order. In this way the piece develops what has come before foreshadows what's to come all the while encompassingthe entire cycle in a single piece.

Par COHEN MARY / SPEARING ROBERT. Quartetstart Level 1 is a break-through for string quartet teaching! Combining the multitudinous talents of Mary Cohen ? whose acclaimed Superseries materials have transformed modern string teaching methods ? and composer Robert Spearing, Quartetstart Level 1 provides a first-class collection of original pieces written specially for string players of around ABRSM Grade 1-2 standard. Quartetstart Level 1 is full of stimulating and enjoyable repertoire which has been carefully devised with the beginner string quartet in mind. Exploring a wide range of musical styles as well as many interesting string effects (including simple harmonics, col legno, pizzicato and tremolo), and containing invaluable rehearsal tip throughout, these imaginative pieces will give string players the opportunity to discover the joys of ensemble playing right from the early stages of learning. A violin 3 alternative to the viola part is provided. / Ensemble Music / Recueil / Quatuor à Cordes

George Nicholson's Salut for String Quartet. The death of Peter Cropper in May 2015 was an immeasurable blow to the musical community especially to those of us who knew him not only as a wonderful wise musician but also as a warm colleague and friend. His unceasing devotion to the cause of music and to the promotion of excellent standards in performance was in my experience beyond compare. The finest tribute we can pay him is to continue to make music to the best of our ability and to go on reaching out to continue to explore and learn. I always felt that I would need to commemorate Peter in a piece for StringQuartet the medium he was most obviously associated with and in Salut it is understandably the first Violin part that has pride of place. The piece develops contrasting textures and registers and above all it is concerned with the influence of the extremely high Violin writing at the beginning on the rest of the ensemble. - George Nicholson Salut was first performed by the Ligeti Quartet Firth Hall University of Sheffield 17 May 2016.