String quartet

SKU: HH.HH462-FSP

Composed by Ming Wang. String Quartet. Full score and parts. Edition HH Music Publishers #HH462-FSP. Published by Edition HH Music Publishers (HH.HH462-FSP).

ISBN 9790708146711.

Cicada larvae live underground for years, creeping about slowly and peacefully in the darkness until that sudden, beautiful brief moment when, one warm, damp summer’s eve, they emerge, metamorphosed into a highly mobile life form. Gaily they dance in the sunshine, singing ardently to the trees in all their greenery --- but only for a short while, for, just as suddenly, they are gone. The same process repeats year upon year. The life cycle of this string quartet resembles that of the cicada. Initially, two embryonic cells remain hidden within dense, gloomy note-clusters; over time they evolve into buds, grow and then blossom. They appear for the first time in their adult form in the fast middle section, where they assume the shape of two very popular Chinese folk melodies, Jasmine and Old Six Blows, albeit in wholly chromaticized and defamiliarized variants. After their grand efflorescence, these forms gradually dissolve into transparent wisps of sound.

String Quartet

SKU: HL.14041524

Composed by Per Norgard. Music Sales America. Contemporary Music. Score. Edition Wilhelm Hansen #KP01585. Published by Edition Wilhelm Hansen (HL.14041524).

ISBN 9788759871812. Danish-English.

Programme Note During the composition of my tenth string quartet a flower-name, host-tidlos, came to my mind - and it would not me leave again. [hosttidlos is actually autumn crocus in English, but the composer prefers harvest-timeless, to maintain some of the associations of the Danish flower-name, red.] The paradoxical union of a seasonal time (harvest) and no-time-at-all was a good fit to the sections of the work that I had composed at that time, and I decided to tentatively stick to that title for the work-in-progress, and now, having finished the piece, I can say that is is still a fitting title - and it stands. Enough about the title, I will go on to describe themusic, a somewhat more precarious project. My tenth string quartet is probably the most basic string quartet that I have composed: melodically - and in sound - it employs the naturally based overtones and undertones (perceived at major and minor, respectively), and rhythmically it is based on growth, on the principles of the Golden Section, and the structure itself contrasts abundance and exuberance with sections of immobility and contemplation. However, Melos, melody, is definitely the dominating aspect of my STRING QUARTET NO. 10: behind even the most rhythmically complex or pure sonoric sections lies a firm - if hidden - basis of melodic or polyphonic ideas. The work was composed in 2004-2005 for the Kroger Quartet.

By Charles Martin Loeffler. String quartet. For 2 violins, viola, violoncello. Chamber Music. String quartet in late romantic/early contemporary style. Late Romantic/Contemporary. Score and parts. 52 pages. Duration 25:00. Published by Wolfhead Music. (WM107) Level: Advanced.

String Quartet

SKU: PR.16400222S

Composed by Dan Welcher. Full score (study). With Standard notation. Duration 11 minutes. Theodore Presser Company #164-00222S. Published by Theodore Presser Company (PR.16400222S).

UPC: 680160037841.

This work follows my Quartet No. 1 by five years. In terms of style and aesthetic aim, however, it seems light years away. Where the first work, a 28-minute, four-movement piece, took aim at cosmic conflicts and heroic resolutions, the present work is intended as a kind of divertissment. Harbor Music lasts a mere eleven minutes, is cast in a single movement with six sections, and should leave both performers and listeners with a feeling of good humor and affection.   The title comes from my experience as a guest in the magnificent city of Sydney, Australia. One of its most attractive features is its unique system of ferry boats: the city is laid out around a large, multi-channeled harbor, with destinations more easily approached by water than by land. Consequently, inhabitants of Sydney get around on small, people-friendly boats that come and go from the central docks at Circular Quay. During a week's visit in 1991, I must have boarded these boats at least a dozen times, always bound for a new location - the resort town of Manley, or the Zoo at Taronga Park, or the shopping district at Darling Harbour.   In casting about for a form for my second string quartet, a kind of loose rondo came to mind. Each new destination would be approached from the same starting-out point (although there are subtle variations in the repeating theme; it's always in a new key, and the texture is never the same). The result, I hope, is a sense of constant new information presented with introductory frames of a more familiar nature.   The embarkation theme, which begins the piece, is a sort of bi-tonal fanfare in which the violins are in G major and the viola and cello are in B-flat major. It is bold, eager, and forward-looking. The first voyage maintains this bi-tonality, beginning as a 9/8 due for second violin and viola in a kind of rocking motion -much as a boat produces when reaching the deeper water in the harbor. A sweet, nostalgic theme emerges over this rocking accompaniment. This music is developed somewhat, then transforms quickly into a much faster and lighter episode, filled with rising and falling scales (again, in differing keys). A scherzando interlude in short notes and changing meters provides contrast, and the episode ends with a reprise of the scales.   The second embarkation follows, this time in A major/C major. It leads quickly into a very warm and slow theme, in wide-leaping intervals for the viola. This section is interrupted twice by solo cadenzas for the cello, suggesting distant boat-horns in major thirds. The end of the episode becomes a transition, with boat-horns leading into the final appearance of the embarkation music, this time in trills and tremolos instead of sharply accented chords. The nostalgic theme of the first episode makes a final appearance, serving now as a coda. The rocking motion continues, in a lullaby fashion, leaving us drowsy and satisfied on our homeward journey.   Harbor Music was written for the Cavani Quartet, and is dedicated to Richard J. Bogomolny. Commissioned by his employees at First National Supermarkets as a gift, it represents a thank you from many of the people (including this composer) who have benefitted from his vision and generosity. An ardent advocate of chamber music (and a cellist himself), Mr. Bogomolny has for many years been Chairman of the Board of Chamber Music America. -- Dan Welcher.

Soprano String Quartet

SKU: HL.14028339

Composed by Simon Bainbridge. Music Sales America. Classical. Book [Softcover]. Music Sales #NOV952699. Published by Music Sales (HL.14028339).

8.5x11.75x0.088 inches.

'Tis Time I Think For Soprano And String Quartet was commissioned by The Housman Society for the centenary of the publication of 'A Shropshire Lad' by A.E. Housman. Duration 15 minutes.