Chamber Music String Quartet

SKU: PR.144407270

Composed by Sydney F. Hodkinson. Sws. Set of Score and Parts. 44+16+16+16+16 pages. Duration 22 minutes. Merion Music #144-40727. Published by Merion Music (PR.144407270).

UPC: 680160681891. 9 x 12 inches.

My Eighth and Ninth String Quartets, begun in late 2017, are sonic cousins. Akin to real cousins, each piece exhibits differing natures. They were requested by two ensembles that have become asecond familiesa to me: The Jupiter Quartet of Urbana, Illinois and the Amernet Quartet based in Miami, Florida. Their collective dedication to, and care for, our art remains a personal and constant are-fuelinga for me. The quartets were commissioned by, and dedicated to, Margaret and Philip Verleger of Denver, Colorado. Additional financial support was provided by the School of Music at Stetson University, Timothy Peter, Dean. Quartet No.8 is laid out in a classical four-movement design. The work does break somewhat from conventional tradition by often placing quartet members into soloistic roles as the movement titles note. individual The opening piece presents at the outset a three-note motto which is turned over, tumbled, and energetically discussed, primarily by a violin duet. It is a duel. The two players part company only infrequently during the movement's progress, pausing briefly for other commentary by their alower cohortsa, the Viola and Cello do not argue, but abet their friends' aeffortsa. The piece's overall character is fairly bright and dancelike, closing in an unresolvedastandoffa. not Two principal asound-objectsa stitch the second movement scherzo together: sliding hands (glissandos) and a plucked ashufflea (pizzicato) - both instigated by the (solo) cellist. The others are influenced - or are not - by their aleadera, and follow - or interrupt - the cello throughout their four-voiced conversation. The third movement (longest of the set) is an elegy dedicated to the memory of a close personal friend, the American composer David Maslanka (1943 - 2017). Its' genesis is a simple 5-note melody derived from my own name (SaC/DaC/EaC/H). This line commences in the (solo) viola and is obsessively uttered without relief during the movement's lamentations. The closing movement revisits much of that opening three-note material, but now dressed up for the full quartet to view. It is a slowly accelerating romp which - twice - cannot avoid a nod to the Amernet and Jupiter performers by offering a humble bow to the 4th movement of Gustav Holst's PLANETS - Jupiter: The Bringer of Jollity. My quartet serves as an honouring salute of thanks for the talent, respect, and friendship of these two young quartets. STRING QUARTET No. 8 is roughly 22 minutes in duration. It was written as an homage to Franz Joseph Haydn, my adesert-island-composera, and completed in Holly Hill, Florida in early April of 2019. S.H.

Chamber Music String Quartet

SKU: PR.114410380

Composed by Lowell Liebermann. Saddle, Tape Junction. Set of Score and Parts. With Standard notation. Composed 1998. Opus 60. 48 + 92 pages. Duration 30 minutes. Theodore Presser Company #114-41038. Published by Theodore Presser Company (PR.114410380).

UPC: 680160015160. 9.5 x 13 inches.

My second String Quartet was written twenty years after the first, Opus 4 from 1978. The First Quartet is an obsessively contrapuntal work in one movement, which was no doubt influenced by my studies with David Diamond. I had always intended to return to the medium once I left the astringency of my earlier style, but it was only when the National Federation of Music Clubs commissioned a major chamber work, with unspecified instrumentation, to celebrate their 100th Anniversary that I was enabled to do so. The Second Quartet is in four movements: Moderato, Allegro isterico, an Andante theme with 11 variations, and the closing Allegro, which then returns to the tempo of the first movement. An audience member at the premiere told me that she heard echoes of recent tragic events such as the Oklahoma bombing in this work. While I had no such programmatic intent while writing the quartet, it was not an entirely incorrect assessment of the work's intended emotional impact. The quartet is pervaded by a sense of seriousness, even mournfulness. The second movement's scherzo is an aggressively animated piece of musical machinery. The third movement's Variations unfold into a greater variety of moods than the others - but the moments of lyricism are countered by aggressive or ironic outbursts. The final movement's attempt at triumph quickly subsides into a return of the first movement, before being transformed onto a sense of resignation and acceptance as the chromaticism of the opening theme is transformed into a pure and diatonic C-Major. The work received its world premiere by the Shanghai Quartet at the 100th Anniversary Congress of the National Federation of Music Clubs at the Congress Hotel in Chicago on August 19th 1998.
My second String Quartet was written twenty years after the first, Opus 4 from 1978.  The First Quartet is an obsessively contrapuntal work in one movement, which was no doubt influenced by my studies with David Diamond.  I had always intended to return to the medium once I left the astringency of my earlier style, but it was only when the National Federation of Music Clubs commissioned a major chamber work, with unspecified instrumentation, to celebrate their 100th Anniversary that I was enabled to do so.The Second Quartet is in four movements:  Moderato, Allegro isterico, an Andante theme with 11 variations, and the closing Allegro, which then returns to the tempo of the first movement.An audience member at the premiere told me that she heard echoes of recent tragic events such as the Oklahoma bombing in this work.  While I had no such programmatic intent while writing the quartet, it was not an entirely incorrect assessment of the work’s intended emotional impact.  The quartet is pervaded by a sense of seriousness, even mournfulness.  The second movement’s scherzo is an aggressively animated piece of musical machinery.  The third movement’s Variations unfold into a greater variety of moods than the others – but the moments of lyricism are countered by aggressive or ironic outbursts.  The final movement’s attempt at triumph quickly subsides into a return of the first movement, before being transformed onto a sense of resignation and acceptance as the chromaticism of the opening theme is transformed into a pure and diatonic C-Major.The work received its world premiere by the Shanghai Quartet at the 100th Anniversary Congress of the National Federation of Music Clubs at the Congress Hotel in Chicago on August 19th 1998.

Chamber Music String Quartet - Advanced

SKU: PR.144405300

Composed by David Felder. Contemporary. Set of Score and Parts. With Standard notation. Composed 1988. 24+8+8+8+8 pages. Theodore Presser Company #144-40530. Published by Theodore Presser Company (PR.144405300).

UPC: 680160584789. 9.5 x 13 inches.

Featured on the Bridge Records CD Music of David Felder, as recorded by the Arditti String Quartet. Felder's Third Face was given its first performance by the Arditti, at the 1988 Buffalo new music festival. I was struck by it then; after further hearings of it I admire it even more. It is lucid, but with a controlled wildness in its making. Written for virtuosi, it challenges them by presenting its fierce, fertile ideas with almost reckless rhythmic and dynamic exuberance. (Andrew Porter, The New Yorker) For advanced performers. Duration: 11'.