10 Fugues For String Quartet Vol. 2-The idea for these arrangements came to me whilst listening to the Hagen Quartet's beautiful recording of the fugues that form part of Haydn's 'Sun Quartets' Op. 20. The spirit and influence of J.S. Bach in particular his Well Tempered Clavier Book II courses through these three miraculous Haydn fugues. Like the viol consort the string quartet suits this kind of composition (the fugue) with all four instruments sufficiently similar in character to each other to match the extraordinary unity and economy of the counterpoint. A string quartet playing Bach fugues is a good example of a harmonious relationship between form andcontent: just as there is a unifying principle behind the construction of the four string instruments so there is (usually) a single theme or subject that unifies the construction of a four-part fugue. Thus the form enacts the content telling you something about the text and message within. Apart from Haydn's and a handful of other composers' wondrous creations there's little fugal writing for string quartet at least in comparison with the abundance of other forms. This was another reason to make these arrangements. The quartet offers a melodic independence impossible to achieve on a single instrument. And I believe the technical and interpretative challenges posed by this repertoire – lightness of sound and rhythmic fluidity for example - will be very valuable to quartets seeking the holy grail: a unified sound. Perhaps the simplest and most compelling reason for this work is that I just love this music more than I can say. These dazzling pieces mostly fast bright and in major keys show Bach at his most playful funny and mischievous composing for an instrument rarely associated with these qualities. And so I'm very happy to offer string quartets these little know fugues written by my favourite composer - a violinist and violist himself but above all a master

Par D\'ADAMO DANIEL. ?Quatuor n°2? was first performed by the Tana string quartet on April 14, 2013, at Radio France, Paris. ?I conceived a piece whose principal subject was going to consist in the description of a minuscule sonic element. The description of this tiny initial material would be so precise, so detailed that, deployed on a much larger scale than its original one, it would occupy the entire duration of the piece. At that point, I just had to choose a sound model as the starting point of the piece, the sound that would best characterize the string instruments themselves: the noisy sound produced by the bow barely coming in contact with one of the strings, getting ready to acquire speed, weight, acceleration, and producing a full sound of a violin, a viola or a cello?? Daniel D?Adamo / Date parution : 2022-02-03/ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

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

Set of parts for String Quartet No.4 by Poul Ruders dating from 2012. Score available: WH31600 Programme Note: It might be of interest for some to note that a gap of only six months separates the writing of my second and third quartets (1979) but a 33 year interval stands between the third and the present piece String Quartet No. 4.Which is in five movements and is about nothing but itself. The first movement 'Adagio - Presto alla breve - Adagio' is an overture of sorts lifting the lid as it were on the odd bit of what happens later on in the other movements.A portal into:The second movement 'Vivo scherzando' which is just that: a short (2 minutes only) fast and jocular piece leading up to the next movement: 'Adagio sognante' a slow and hushed dream-world paving the way for the pièce de resistance of the entire quartet: 'Presto alla breve' a ferociously fast tour de force for the four players who with that one under their belts can lean back a little (but only a little) and put the whole thing gently to bed in the fifth and final movement: a simple 'Adagio'. Off the record: my first string quartet (1972) has been withdrawn and is no more a fact that renders the numbering of the subsequent quartets a matter of personal conviction. Poul Ruders November 2012

The composer made this arrangement of the Third String Quartet for string orchestra in March 2003. The first performance was given by the Eos Orchestra New York conducted by Ken Selden in the Concert Hall Ethical CulturalSociety New York City on 24 April 2003.Quoting composer: In the summer of 1989 I composed a choral work Out of the Ruins for Agnieszka Piotrowska’s BBC2 documentary which dealt with the physical and emotional responsesof some of the inhabitants of Leninakhan to the earthquake which devastated Armenia the previous December. When he heard the recording of the work that I made with the Holy Echmiadzin Chorus under the fervent conducting of KhorenMeykhanejian Alex Balanescu suggested turning Out of the Ruins into a string quartet. There seemed no reason or opportunity to do this until I felt the need to add to the intensity of my experiences in Armenia the no lessprofound experience of witnessing the images of the Romanian revolution on television during the latter part of December 1989.Just as the structure of my Third String Quartet (1990) may connect it with the First so they alsoshare a debt to Thurston Dart (my professor at King’s College London between 1961 and 1965). It was Dart who had the inspiration to send me to Romania in 1965 ostensibly to study folk music. The volumes of transcriptions that Ibrought back with me had remained unopened until with this proposed ‘celebratory’ string quartet (though at the time it was difficult to know quite what to celebrate in postrevolutionary Romania) an occasion arose where I coulduse this material in what seemed to me was a non-exploitative manner. The compositional procedure was as follows: to take Out of the Ruins as a template on which the Romanian vocal or instrumental music would besuperimposed quite often stretched into new intervallic shapes through the demands of the completely pre-formed harmonic structure.