Set of parts for String Quartet No.4 by Poul Ruders dating from 2012. Score available: WH31600 Programme Note: It might be of interest for some to note that a gap of only six months separates the writing of my second and third quartets (1979) but a 33 year interval stands between the third and the present piece String Quartet No. 4.Which is in five movements and is about nothing but itself. The first movement 'Adagio - Presto alla breve - Adagio' is an overture of sorts lifting the lid as it were on the odd bit of what happens later on in the other movements.A portal into:The second movement 'Vivo scherzando' which is just that: a short (2 minutes only) fast and jocular piece leading up to the next movement: 'Adagio sognante' a slow and hushed dream-world paving the way for the pièce de resistance of the entire quartet: 'Presto alla breve' a ferociously fast tour de force for the four players who with that one under their belts can lean back a little (but only a little) and put the whole thing gently to bed in the fifth and final movement: a simple 'Adagio'. Off the record: my first string quartet (1972) has been withdrawn and is no more a fact that renders the numbering of the subsequent quartets a matter of personal conviction. Poul Ruders November 2012

String Quartet No.4 was composed by Hans Abrahamsen in 2012. Commissioned by Westdeutscher Rundfunk and Wigmore Hall For the Arditti Quartet. Programme note: The basic idea for my Fourth String Quartet was very clear to me: It should be quiet and soft music or to put it in a german term: 'hoch im Himmel gesungen ...' (”High singing in heaven…”). Each of the four movements has a different scordatura/pitch. The first movement begins – like my work ”Schnee” – sky-high with an airy and soft melody by the first violin. The second movement is fast and ”movement andjoy”-like. It consists of two duets and a reverse style counterpoint. While the sections were progressively longer in the first movement they are getting shorter and shorter in the second. ”Dark heavy and earthy” is the third movement and its pizzicato recalls big black raindrops falling to the ground. It is the dark and grainy counterpart to the first movement whereas the fourth movement corresponds to the second. The fourth movement was planned as a dark and heavy counterpart but it turned out to be like ”babbling” music of a child. My Fourth String Quartet has become in its way a serene and cool piece. So the Quartet has been finished luckyly after twenty years – it was already in 1990 that I was commissioned by Wittener Tage für Neue Musik to write the piece for Arditti Quartet. Hans Abrahamsen

Contemporary String Quartet Repertoire For Flourishing Ensembles-The Explore series is part of three progressive collections of contemporary string quartet repertoire from leading composers to encourage and facilitate the development of ensemble playing. Compiled and edited by Liz Partridge each volume contains graded works commissioned especially for this series designed for quartets formed of players of similar ability. Featuring a mixture of musical styles and genres each piece contains different elements and techniques to consolidate and enhance the players’ skills as soloists and as ensemble members. An accompanying CD provides demonstration recordings of all included pieces. Minus-one tracks are available to downloadonline to allow for individual practice between rehearsals. Explore Series: Contemporary string quartet repertoire for flourishing ensembles. Music for players of grade 4-5 standard with some ensemble playing experience. Featuring expanded key selections more complex rhythms and simple introductions to extended techniques.

String Quartet No.4 'Spaces In A Space' is a work by David Stoll for String Quartet. Commissioned by the Bingham String Quartet the first performance of this work took place on 13th July 2005 and it lasts around 24 minutes. This is the Score and Parts The inspiration for this piece comes from pottery and pots with the three movements telling the musical and programmatic story of the process of pottery from the clay on the wheel through to an exhibition of the finished pots.

Set of parts for Vagn Holmboe's String Quartet No.4 ('4. Quartetto') / Strygekvartet Nr.4 Op.63 (1954). Dedicated to Per Nørgård.