The blockbuster movie "Fifty Shades of Grey" was released in 2015 - and it was universally panned by critics. However, the movie's original soundtrack received much higher acclaim, and The Weeknd's single "Earned It" ended up receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. This string quartet arrangement brings the same sensuous feel, call-and-response echoes, dynamic contrasts, and exciting tension as the original, and even maintains the original song's dramatic string lines and tremolos! Great for pop concerts, dinners and events, or even weddings - this arrangement was initially commissioned for a bride's processional song. Rated advanced for the tricky rhythms and interlocking parts - this will be sightreadable for professionals, but probably a good idea to look it over first. Listen to the original song to get a feel for the rubato introduction and the slow but steady tempo. And above all, have fun! :)


Sarah "Cellobat" Chaffee earned her bachelor's degree in cello performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music and is now based in Las Vegas. She currently performs with Aerosmith in their "Deuces Are Wild" residency at The Park MGM Theater on the Las Vegas Strip. Sarah is also the principal cellist in David Perrico's Pop Strings Orchestra, a 14-piece band that performs every Friday and Saturday at Caesars Palace, and she plays regularly for Premiere Wedding Music and Bella Electric Strings. Sarah has performed and recorded with many other artists including Halsey, Disturbed, M�tley Cr�e, Celine Dion, Kygo, Ricky Martin, Sarah Brightman, Il Divo, and Lady Antebellum. She can be found at:
http://www.cellobat.com
http://www.instagram.com/cellobat
http://www.youtube.com/c/SarahCellobatChaffee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA0-Tg4tul8andfeature=youtu.be

?At Last? was composed by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren for the musical ?Sun Valley Serenade? in 1941. It was recorded by Glenn Miller and his orchestra, becoming a chart hit in 1942, and in 1960 by Etta James, who was subsequently inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The song is a frequent wedding favourite for quartets.

If you would like to watch a video of a professional quartet playing my arrangement on Youtube, look up my channel by typing Skinny Black Dogs-Capriccio Quartet-At Last.

This version of the song is for a professional/advanced quartet, as the opening is tricky for the first violin. However, most of the double stopping includes open strings for at least one of the notes. I have spread the melody across each member of the quartet so that everyone has their place in the sun! As a cellist myself, I know that my part can sometimes be a bit dull, so the cellist gets a lot of the tune! In the solos I have sometimes tried to approximate the feel of jazz by precisely notating the rhythms, but realistically I think it is better for each player to listen to different versions of the song and to play it,to some extent, by ear in order to feel the syncopation. It needs to have a ?rubato? melody, but with the accompaniment as a rock solid 12/8 beat, albeit with an emphasis on the ?off beat? which I have notated with an accent. I also recommend grace notes and glissandi to enhance the bluesy mood.I think Capriccio Quartet does this beautifully!

As well as this version for Quartet, I also have another arrangement of the song in the same key for String Quartet and Female Singer. You can find it uploaded to Sheet Music Press, and is recorded by Capriccio Quartet with my daughter singing.The accompanying parts are almost identical, but each player has more double stopping in the Quartet version. It is in the same key. Have fun and post me any recordings. I can be found on Facebook very easily.