SKU: HL.14031827

ISBN 9788759871089. Danish-English.

Preface The three movements of the quartet may be perceived as three different expressions of an unstable core: an inherent unrest leads to frequent changes of direction. The first movement is full of dramatic contrasts: it is followed by a second movement, whose basic mood of meditative rest is challenged by occasional centrifugal utbursts, while the third movement takes the inherent conflicts to a higher level, contrasting material of introspective lyricism with excessively pathetic moods. The final way out is a retrograde one, (back) into the source: through a constant accelerando-diminuendo the piece disappears into a vanishing point. The into the source of the titlemay be visualized as a reversed fountain-action: the broad fan-like spread of the first movement, a more coherent-solid second movement, and finally - in the third movement - a return-run, ever more vehemently, like a suction into the spring itself ... The musical motifs are varied: there are traffic-situations (which I heard!) with stomping and machine-like rhythms in different, but simultaneous tempi, and there are more abstract upwards and downwards half-tone-scales, with changing accents, creating glimpses of melodies. INTO THE SOURCE, String Quartet No. 9, was composed on a double-commission from the Orion Quartet and the Vertavo Quartet. The premiere performances took places in Santa Fe in 2002 and in Oslo in 2003. Per Norgard.

SKU: HL.14014460

In its original form the Suite was written in answer to a commission from the Farnham Festival and was first performed on 11 May 1971. I was, however, not entirely satisfied with it and did not pass it for publication until 1982, when I revised it in considerable detail. In its revised form it was first performed on 18 June, 1983, at Monash University, Melbourne. The music requires little explanation. The titles of each of the five movements indicate their character: 'Fanfare'; 'Dance', which has Elizabethan overtones; 'Popular Song', which explores jazz rhythms and harmonies; 'Ceremony' - a solemn chorale; and 'Finale', a light-hearted Rondo with fugal touches. The overall intention is simply to entertain both the players and their audiences.

SKU: HL.51487183

ISBN 9790201871837. UPC: 888680986568. 6.5x9.5x0.086 inches.

Redolent of the work of Dmitri Shostakovich in its musical language, Evgeny Kissin's String Quartet op. 3 comprises four strongly contrasting movements: on the heels of the stately “Adagio liberamente” comes an extremely lively “Allegro inquieto” that wanders between dynamic extremes and bristles with glissandi. The third movement, marked “Largo drammatico,” is sustained by an insistent, heavily rhythmic dotted motive, while the final movement shifts from the introduction, marked “Pensierosamente, ma mantenendo strettamente il ritmo puntato,” into a brilliant finale, “Molto allegro e sarcastico,” that is suffused with elements of fugato and,like all movements, informed by dodecaphonic harmonies. This demanding fifteen-minute work was composed in 2015-16 and recorded for the first time on Nimbus Records by the Kopelman Quartet.

SKU: HL.14025352

ISBN 9788759885420. English-Danish.

Preface The three movements of the quartet may be perceived as three different expressions of an unstable core: an inherent unrest leads to frequent changes of direction. The first movement is full of dramatic contrasts: it is followed by a second movement, whose basic mood of meditative rest is challenged by occasional centrifugal utbursts, while the third movement takes the inherent conflicts to a higher level, contrasting material of introspective lyricism with excessively pathetic moods. The final way out is a retrograde one, (back) into the source: through a constant accelerando-diminuendo the piece disappears into a vanishing point. The into the source of the titlemay be visualized as a reversed fountain-action: the broad fan-like spread of the first movement, a more coherent-solid second movement, and finally - in the third movement - a return-run, ever more vehemently, like a suction into the spring itself ... The musical motifs are varied: there are traffic-situations (which I heard!) with stomping and machine-like rhythms in different, but simultaneous tempi, and there are more abstract upwards and downwards half-tone-scales, with changing accents, creating glimpses of melodies. INTO THE SOURCE, String Quartet No. 9, was composed on a double-commission from the Orion Quartet and the Vertavo Quartet. The premiere performances took places in Santa Fe in 2002 and in Oslo in 2003. Per Norgard.