SKU: FG.55011-486-9

ISBN 9790550114869.

The composer describes his 3rd string quartet, as follows: When we moved from Mantsala to Ylitornio in 1962, the experience of the northern sky at night without streetlight or other light pollution just stuck in my mind. The depth of the starry sky and the idea of how small we actually are inspired me for the three series of the string quartet. All of the string quartets are associated with the winter atmosphere and winter light in Sea Lapland. The series will culminate in the Gestures of Winter quartet, nicknamed as Time Around Northern Night Skies....

SKU: BR.DV-8100

ISBN 9790200482713. 12 x 9 inches.

World premiere Halle, January 27, 1987 The composition was inspired by the sculpture La Meditation by Auguste Rodin which the composer came into contact with during an exhibition at the Nationalgalerie in Berlin. Rilke wrote about this sculpture: never before has a human body been concentrated like this around its inner essence never before has it been strained like this by its own soul and eased again by the elasticity of its own blood.
(Paul-Heinz Dittrich) The composition was inspired by the sculpture La Meditation by Auguste Rodin which the composer came into contact with during an exhibition at the Nationalgalerie in Berlin. Rilke wrote about this sculpture: never before has a human body been concentrated like this around its inner essence never before has it been strained like this by its own soul and eased again by the elasticity of its own blood.
(Paul-Heinz Dittrich)
CD Dreyer Gaido 21044

Helmut Gerhold (Fl) Werner F. Selge (Klav)
CD Dreyer Gaido 21046

SKU: 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.

SKU: HL.14043783

8.25x11.75 inches.

Simon Holt 's 3rd Quartet is the third of six pieces which make up a cycle with the overall title 'Terrain'. Lasting around 23 minutes, this wonderful work is arranged for String Quartet and was co-commissioned by The Radcliffe Trust, NMC Recordings, Internationales Musikfestival Heidelberger Fruhling and Wigmore Hall. The premiere was performed on 19th January 2015. The six different compositions, of which 3rd Quartet  is the third, are for different combinations of stringed instruments, featuring Piano in the second piece. The music that comprises 3rd Quartet  is drawn from the other parts of the cycle as a whole, yet in a reverse order. In this way the piecedevelops what has come before, foreshadows what's to come, all the while encompassing the entire cycle in a single piece.

SKU: HL.14048200

ISBN 9781785583469. UPC: 888680689070. 9x12 inches.

This is Howard Blake's timeless classic The Snowman arranged for String Quartet, with optional narration. This is the Full Score, a performance of which lasts around 26 minutes.

SKU: HL.14043127

8.25x12.0x0.068 inches.

Ikon of Joy/Sorrow is for 2 Violins, Viola and Cello. Composed in 1999, when Tavener was around 55 years old, this short 2 minute long piece was premiered by the Brodsky Quartet.