Sir Arthur Bliss (1891-1975) was a British composer and conductor. He studied under Wood and Stanford at Cambridge and the Royal College of Music where he met and drew inspiration from Vaughan Williams Holst Howells and Goossens. He was appointed Master of the Queen’s Music in 1953 and wrote music for many state occasions including the Coronation and the Funeral of Winston Churchill. The String Quartet No.1 in Bb Major was first published in 1941. It was actually the third String Quartet Bliss composed but the first two were early works which he withdrew or lost. It was written in America in 1940 and first performed inBerkeley California; it became the last work he wrote before he returned to Britain to help the war effort.

for String Quartet-This is the full score of Aheym for String Quartet composed by Bryce Dessner best known as the guitarist of The National but also an acclaimed composer in his ownright. Composed in 2009 for the Kronos Quartet for their performance in Brooklyn's Prospect Park for the Celebrate Brooklyn! festival Aheym (meaning 'homeward' in Yiddish) was directly inspiredby his grandmother's migration to America. Dessner states that the stories and information she used to tell them permeated their collective imagination and created a close connection to the past. He dedicatesAheym to his grandmother Sarah Dessner.  The score in this edition was first performed on the 12th of March 2009 at the MusicNOW Festival and on the 18th of July 2009 inProspect Park Brooklyn. The work lasts around 10 minutes and is filled with dynamic tempo changes a mix of staccato and smooth playing and all-round excitement. It's a fantastic piece to play and the genius composition will keepaudiences on their toes.

This quartet was written in 1893 during Dvorak’s stay in America as director of the National Conservatoire of Music in New York. The influence of Negro melodies and of deep homesickness is apparent throughout the work but most noticeably in the expressive melody of the second movement.Available here is the set of performance parts for Dvorak's String Quartet No.12 In F American Op.96.

During his time in America (1892-95) Dvorák suffered with homesickness. It was whilst living in New York that he began his String Quartet In A Flat Major but he did not complete the piece until afterhis return to Bohemia in December 1895.There is no trace of the influence of Indian or African-American music in this his final chamber work; rather the piece is striking for the amount of cantabile themes and motives and their contrasting and artistic treatment. It seems that his relief at seeing his children and family again directly influenced the work. Dvorák himself wrote in a letter during its composition that 'Almighty God hasgranted us this cheerful moment and thus we all feel unutterably happy'.This Henle publication is the first Urtext edition of the Quartet since 1955.

Written for Cuarteto Latinoamericano this 4-movement work marks a stylistic shift from Vali's first quartet which followed mid-20th Century atonal and serial techniques. In contrast String Quartet No. 2 is a fusion oftraditional Persian melodic modes with Western classical harmonic and formal sensibilities.