Cheryl Frances-Hoad's The Dreams That Fly from Me for solo String Quartet and String Orchestra. Score. 'The Dreams That Fly From Me is a ten minute work for solo string quartet and string orchestra. It is in two movements (one slow one fast) that are played without a break. I spent ten years at the Yehudi Menuhin School (a specialist music school for string and piano) growing up so this piece cannot help but be strongly influenced by the music I played in the school orchestra during this time. In particular the work is influenced by Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro Strauss’s Metamorphosen (fortwenty-three solo strings) and Tippett’s Concerto for Double String Orchestra although the harmonic language of the piece (which is essentially very jazzy) helps to obscure these musical references. In terms of extra musical inspiration the work was inspired by a poem by Ivan Goll called Bloodhound which includes the lines “Catch the dreams that fly off from me.... And savage the ankles of my fleeting angel” I was inspired by the idea of a “fleeting angel” which at a time when I had been having difficulties composing seemed very poignant: the angel of the poem seemed to be a poetic representation of my inspiration. The Dreams That Fly From Me was premiered by the Szymanowsky Quartet and the Northern Sinfonia (Bradley Creswick director) at Hovingham Hall on the 28th July 2013 as part of the 2013 Ryedale Festival.' - Cheryl Frances-Hoad

Janá ek?s 2nd String Quartet Intimate Letters is regarded as a highlight of the modern string quartet literature. It was written during the composer?s last year of life between 29 January and 19 February 1928 inspired by the ageing Janáèek?s exceptional love for Kamila Stösslová. The Moravian Quartet devoted themselves to this impressive work; Janá ek attended a total of three of their rehearsals in May and June 1928. This had several consequences including his abandoning his original idea of using a viola d?amore. After Janá ek?s unexpected death (12 August 1928) the uncertain genesis of the work became the greatest problem of the IntimateLetters : the surviving copies were not definitively authorised. The editors of this new edition have reverted to Janá ek?s autograph sketches as the main most reliable source and using these as a basis have reconstructed the work as it stood at the point of Janá ek?s death. The musical text taken from the Critical Complete Edition of the Works of Leo? Janá ek (Vol. E/4) therefore contains clear differences in comparison with older editions.

Joan Tower's White Water - String Quartet No. 5. Score and parts. White Water is the first of four commissions for Chamber Music Monterey Bay's 'Arc of Life' project. Theartist Bill Viola shared excerpts from his video installation 'Going Forth by Day' — a depiction of life in all its stages — with the four composers who then created compositions inspired by this. 'When I saw [Bill]Viola's work I was quite fascinated with how he used water as an encompassing image which influenced everything I saw about the 'person' inside the water. My piece is not directly associated by what he specifically did but itdoes have a strong connection to the image of water as a powerful basic idea and action. The many glissandos hopefully create a 'fluid' environment that connects the various ideas and registers together while 'white water'somehow implies more rapid 'cascading' types of action which occur throughout the piece' - Joan Tower

for String Quartet op. 35a-Josef Suk played second Violin in the Bohemian String Quartet. Since 1914 the ensemble was obliged to perform the Austrian national anthem at the opening of every concert. Suk decided to supplement this obligatory piece with a work inspired by the ancient sacred Bohemian St. Wenceslas hymn. The hymn?s message a plea for the well-being of the Czech people directed at their patron saint was immediately understood by the audience.The Bohemian String Quartet performed this single-movement Meditation for the first time on 27 September 1914; the premiere of the version for string orchestra followed on 22 November 1914 played by the CzechPhilharmonic. That same year the piece was published by Fr. A. Urbánek together with arrangements for Piano and Organ.This first Urtext edition prepared by the Sukscholar Zdenek Nouza is published in two scorings one for string quartet and another for String Orchestra (BA9584). The orchestral version differs in some details and has an added part for Double Bass.First Urtext editionInformative trilingual Foreword (Cz/Eng/Ger) and Critical Commentary (Eng) by the editorTwo versions published in two separate editions

String quartet no. 3. Par ALAKOTILA TIMO. Timo Alakotila's La cantina (String quartet no. 3, 2013) was commissioned by a distinguished Finnish string quartet Kamus. The title of the quartet in four movements was inspired by the ongoing renovation in the composer's basement (ital. La cantina) after a water damage. The first movement leads from tentative dialogues to a powerful unison. The lyrical second movement (San Giovanni) is followed by a mysterious and wistful waltz. The finale (Fretta) rushes ahead all the way until the end. Composer, musician Timo Alakotila (b. 1959) is a distinguished, active and versatile talent in the Finnish music scene whose long career working with different genres of music - folk music in particular - has been ground-breaking. Alakotila's works showcase his versatility: he has produced highly acclaimed classical music compositions and arrangements for Pekka and Jaakko Kuusisto, the Meta4 quartet, the Kamus and Tempera quartets, Eeva Oksala, Dalia Stasevska and Jorma Hynninen, among others. / Date parution : 2023-01-24/ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes