String Quartet No.3 'Three Miniatures' was composed by Per Nørgård in 1959. Manuscript copy. Programme Note: The spectrum of sound the gesticulation in short the very nature of the strings has always had a central place in my output demonstrated by the numbers of string quartets concertos with string soloist chamber and solo works. The interest dates back to my school years when I was fortunate to be able to compose for a cello-playing schoolmate and to accompany him on the piano. I discovered then the innumerable nuances of sound and playing varieties offered by just one bow four strings and fivefingers... The Three Miniatures for string quartet has a consequent experimental structure that dictates every note in the three extremely short movements. Each member of the quartet thus plays his own little melody a certain (but different) number of times so that the brand new soundscopes constantly appear in spite of the unchanging parts due to their different length. Per Nørgård

Frank Bridge wrote these three light-hearted and fairly easy String Quartets for the English String Quartet of which he was a member to play at the Annual General Meeting of the Royal College of Music Union in 1904. Accessible for advanced school students they are published with the kind permission of the Frank Bridge Trust and transcribed from the original manuscript.