Paul Mealor's 2011 piece Via Crucis (The Way of the Cross for Violin Viola Cello and Piano.

Par LEIVISKA HELVI. Finnish composer Helvi Leiviskä (1902-1982) created a broad-based output of orchestral works, solo songs and chamber music. Her style could be described as moderate modernism, deriving influences from multiple sources such as late Romanticism, Symbolism, Expressionism, Existentialism and Neo-Classicism. Leiviskä's output is characterised by philosophical and religious themes, images of nature and narrative structures. Many of her works focus on human existential angst and spiritual searching and growth. Helvi Leiviskä originally completed her Piano Quartet in A major op. 1 in 1926 but revised it a decade later, in 1935. Written for the traditional piano quartet lineup (violin, viola, cello and piano), the work is in three movements and has a duration of about 25 minutes. It features religious and ecstatic imagery such as may be found in French, German or Russian neo-Romantic styles. Leiviskä's Piano Quartet is considered one of the cornerstones of her chamber music output. Its early version was premiered in two parts at student recitals of the Helsinki Music Institute (the 1st movement in 1925 and the 2nd and 3rd movements in 1926). The revised version was performed in full by Timo Mikkilä (piano), Sulo Aro (violin), Ilmo Ranta (viola) and Pentti Rautawaara (cello) on Finnish radio in 1939. The work was also on the programme of Leiviskä's second composition concert in 1945, being performed on that occasion by Jussi Jalas (piano), Erik Cronvall (violin), Erik Karma (viola) and Yrjö Selin (cello). Two commercial recordings have been released (Finlandia Classics 2012 and Telos Music 2016). It is published for the first time 2022 with an extensive foreword by Susanna Välimäki. The product includes the full score (piano part) and a set of string parts. Duration: c. 25'. Have a look inside by clicking 'sample'. / Date parution : 2022-05-31/ Répertoire / Quatuor avec Piano

for piano quartet. Par DAVIES PETER MAXWELL. The two nocturnes were composed immediately after major surgery, against a deadline, and, despite the music sounding unlike anything I have written before, I decided to keep them exactly as they turned out. 2010 is a Chopin year, and I made this pair of nocturnes into a little tribute, after playing through and listening to most of his output. Never before had I composed under these drugged conditions – the musical dimensions were enormously exaggerated, with each interval and each phrase being elongated out of all proportion, and the whole few minutes filling the whole of time and space. The orchestration, for piano quartet, was influenced by the very neo-classical feel of the chamber version of the concertos, and the harmonic language very much the result of pondering Chopin’s very individual take on J.S Bach. They are dedicated to James MacMillan and Amelia Freedman respectively. Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (2010)/ Répertoire / Piano, Violon, Alto et Violoncelle

Ed Hughes' Secret Sky for Piano Quartet.Secret Sky was commissioned by the Schubert Ensemble's Chamber Music 2000 project and has been performed by school children in the south west of England and in the Purcell Room by music college students. The piece lasts 4 minutes and aims to create an evocative sound scape through pools of modal harmony created by a mix of piano repeating patterns and melodies in the 3 strings. As in all my work the ebb and flow of line is important to the development tensions and resolutions of the piece. The piece is probably suitable for players of the standard of at least Grade 6. It can be performed either by violin viola cello andpiano or by 2 violins cello and piano. - Ed HughesCommission made possible by Michael McLaren for his daughter Iona McLaren.

?In the evening we played Robert?s E-Flat Major Quartet for the first time ? and I was once again truly delighted at this beautiful and so youthful work? enthused Clara Schumann in 1842. Inpreparation for this work Schumann had studied String quartets by the Viennese Classical composers. This is why all of the parts in the quartet are treated equally forming a splendid ensemble. Our edition has anextensive critical commentary on account of the difficult source situation. The fold-out page in the Cello part was designed with music practice in mind. The Piano Quartet and the Piano quintet op. 44 referred toas ?sister works? were both composed in Schumann?s ?chamber music year?. For this reason we were publishing them both in the 2006 ?Schumann Year?.