George Nicholson's Salut for String Quartet. The death of Peter Cropper in May 2015 was an immeasurable blow to the musical community especially to those of us who knew him not only as a wonderful wise musician but also as a warm colleague and friend. His unceasing devotion to the cause of music and to the promotion of excellent standards in performance was in my experience beyond compare. The finest tribute we can pay him is to continue to make music to the best of our ability and to go on reaching out to continue to explore and learn. I always felt that I would need to commemorate Peter in a piece for StringQuartet the medium he was most obviously associated with and in Salut it is understandably the first Violin part that has pride of place. The piece develops contrasting textures and registers and above all it is concerned with the influence of the extremely high Violin writing at the beginning on the rest of the ensemble. - George Nicholson Salut was first performed by the Ligeti Quartet Firth Hall University of Sheffield 17 May 2016.

Par BARTOK BELA. Béla Bartók?s six string quartets, composed between 1908 and 1940, are 20th-century milestones of the genre. His First String Quartet is closely linked to his unhappy love for the violinist Stefi Geyer, to whom he sent the initial measures of its first movement in early 1908 with the remark: ?My song of death?. When he completed all three movements of the work a year later, he had, according to his friend and colleague Zoltán Kodály, written himself ?back into life?. In this First Quartet, Bartók combines late-Romantic sounds with elements of the folk music that had since 1905 been a source of increasing interest to him. This definitive edition, supervised by Bartók scholar László Somfai, is the first-ever Urtext edition of this work. It takes into account both manuscript and printed sources, as well as letters and notes by the composer in which he recorded matters such as modifications to tempo markings. The Henle edition thus offers a musical text edited to the highest scholarly standards, with fascinating information on the work?s compositional history and performance practice. Sensible page turns and cue notes help to make this edition a real ?must have?. / Date parution : 2023-05-06/ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

This imaginative collection of carols arranged for flexible string ensemble really capture the spirit of Christmas. The adaptable arrangements allow players of all ages and standards to join in with lyrics provided for those who don’t play an instrument. Includes traditional tunes such as Good King Wenceslas and Hark the Herald Angels Sing along side pupil favourites such as Jingle Bells and Away in a Manger.