Critical Commentary. By Arnold Schoenberg. Schott. 172 pages. Published by Schoenberg.

String quartet

SKU: BE.BEL-1079

Composed by Arnold Schoenberg. 20th Century. First String Quartet, Op. 7 (first quartet to which Schoenberg gave an opus number). Parts. Belmont Music Publishers #BEL-1079. Published by Belmont Music Publishers (BE.BEL-1079).

String Quartet (2vl,va,vc)

SKU: BR.EB-9266

Composed by Marton Illes. Chamber music. Edition Breitkopf.

World premiere: Vienna, Arnold Schoenberg Center, May 3, 2018 (Asasello-Quartet)

New music (post-2000); Music post-1945. Set of parts. Composed 2016/17. Duration 10'. Breitkopf and Haertel #EB 9266. Published by Breitkopf and Haertel (BR.EB-9266).

ISBN 9790004185667. 0 x 0 inches.

World premiere: Vienna, Arnold Schoenberg Center, May 3, 2018 (Asasello-Quartet).

Chamber Music String Quartet

SKU: CF.CY3256

Composed by Daniel Godfrey. Contemporary. Set of Score and Parts. With Standard notation. Composed 1974. 59+26+26+26+26 pages. Duration 16 minutes. Carl Fischer Music #CY3256. Published by Carl Fischer Music (CF.CY3256).

ISBN 9780825881947. UPC: 798408081942. 8.5x11 inches.

Reviewers, trying to find a label for Godfrey's music, will compare him to Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, even Barber, using words such as lyrical, lush, and always tonal and melodic. 2004 saw the release of an all-Godfrey CD, including String Quartet No. 2, by the Cassatt String Quartet, an album that the New Yorker hailed as one of the 10 best of that year. Formerly available only on a rental basis, String Quartet No. 2 is now available for sale. Real sensual warmth, with a touch of the sensibility of Schoenberg's Transfigured Nightà These very touching works are completely tonal and basically pick up from the point where music was derailed some four score years ago... It is remarkable that music like this is being written, recorded, and widely celebrated. Robert Reilly, Surprised by Beauty: A Listener's Guide to the Recovery of Modern Music (Ignatius Press).

String Quartet

SKU: HL.49047454

Score and Parts. Composed by Julian Anderson. String Ensemble. Chamber, Classical. Softcover. 148 pages. Duration 1380 seconds. Schott Music #ED13989. Published by Schott Music (HL.49047454).

UPC: 842819101086. 9.0x12.0x0.358 inches.

My 3rd String Quartet is in six contrasted movements. Certain musical figures recur across the work, but there are few themes as such. The main emphasis is on contrast of mood, texture, harmony, pacing and timing. Unlike many of my works this quartet had no extra-musical inspiration, and in principle should have no subtitle. Certain features already present in my music became more prominent in this new work: modes (limited collections of pitches) have always helped me to focus musical character, but here a sense of key note for each mode became much more pronounced, as did the difference between modes for each section of the work. A sort of hybrid key-system emerged (even with equivalents of major and minor) which is not normal tonality, nor does it aim to imitate it. Unlike tonality this key-system includes noises, extended performance techniques and intervals outside Western tuning as available resources. What I hope it does is to focus the listening experience onto different musical areas, to encourage a sense of both modulation from one area to another and to give the music a sense of goal. No conscious knowledge of this is needed when listening: the music should communicate directly on its own. Here, then, is this collection of six musical colours, related and unrelated, different yet belonging together, variable yet in a set order. Hence the subtitle, chosen both for both its sound and its sense: 'hana no hanataba' meaning, in Japanese, 'bouquet of flowers'. A brief description: 1) Moderately fast. Short droplets of sounds gather increasing momentum. 2) Very fast. Canons and bells at different speeds. 3) Very slow - fast - very slow - very fast - very slow. The main slow movement and its main scherzo. An emphasis on non-tempered tunings and on inhaling and exhaling waves of sound. The slow sections feature florid melodic writing. In the exuberant scherzo competing duos and trios create imaginary folk music. 4) Extremely fast/extremely slow. Open strings and harmonics fuse into a single string instrument - like a sort of large resonating Medieval tromba marina. 5) Very fast. A variation on movement 2). Variation, Schoenberg told Cage, is just a sort of repetition 'with some things changed and others not.' 6) Slow - Very Fast - Fast - Slow. The opening calm harmonies and florid melodies evoke movement 3) in different music. The fast part features one overt theme: a fanfare-like call to attention which is subject to extensive development. There is much use of non-Western tuning. At its climax the music freezes into a frieze - a wall of sound standing in front of the audience with increasing obstinacy and certainty as the work grinds towards its cadence.