Holmboe's last quartet work which is unoffi­cially also String Quartet No. 21 was the last work he ever composed and was unfinished on his death in 1996. His pupil Per Nørgård has finished the quartet and himself characterizes his contribution by saying that the score existed “in an only partly completed form which could however be written out with only a few cases of doubt”. With only two movements and a play­ing time of about nine minutes it is at its exist­ing length the shortest of Holmboe's string quar­tets. The first movement takes the form of one long arch in a rocking triple time which constantly shiftsamong different tempo and pulse sensations. At the same time the rhythmic en­ergy increases until the movement in a faster Con moto tempo accelerates to a more flowing 12/8 time coloured both rhythmically by cross-­rhythms in duple time and timbrally by harmon­ics in the viola. In its middle section Con fuoco the movement culminates in both tempo and expression until it falls calm in brief recapitula­tions in reverse order of the first two sections. The rocking feeling continues in the second movement but now at a more extroverted level from the outset Allegro and pizzicato. The en­ergy builds up further as the mood intensifies to Con fuoco while all instruments go over to bowed playing but like the first movement this movement ends Adagio here however not as a gradual attenuation but through a sudden shift in tempo to a calm imitative passage before the movement slowly thins out to the almost inaudible through a last dense open sounding chord with a brief violin solo above it. The quartet is dedicated to Holmboe's wife MeLa May Holmboe and was given its first performance by the Kontra Quartet on 22nd March 1997 at the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music in Odense Denmark.

This String Quartet along with other chamber works by Onslow is worthy of serious study alongside works of other composers of the period such as Beethoven. It has a lively and tuneful first movement a beautiful theme and variations (including a florid variation with an exciting part for 1st Violin) a pretty minuet and trio and a rousing final movement. All instruments have interesting parts.George Onslow an Anglo-French composer was born in Clermont-Ferrand in July 1784 and died there in October 1853. Three of his String Quintets and his Piano quintet are also published by SJ Music (Q1993-5 Q1991-1 Q1993-4 and Q2005-2).

A selection of folk ballads from England Ireland Scotland and Wales.A ballad is the blending of words the beauty of melody tone rhythm and expression. They reflect the history of a people their legends religion love and work. British ballads are renouned for their verse melodic construction and for the enormous range of expression.1 The Lass of Richmond Hill is a poem by Leonard McNally a barrister about a lass who became his wife in 1787. The music is by James Hook (1746 1827).2 Sally in our Alley. The words are by Henry Carey who also wrote the original music but this was replaced by the tune we now know an English traditionalmelody in 1790.3 Caller Herrin'. The poem is by Lady Nairne (1766 1845). Nathaniel Gow the famous Scottish violinist wrote the music in 1798 as a harpsichord piece combining the traditional Edinburgh fish wives cry Caller Herrin' with the bells of St Andrew's Church Edinburgh.4 Men of Harlech. The music is traditionally Welsh and the ballad probably originated from North Wales where the native princes had ruled the longest.5 David of the White Rock (Dafydd y Garres Wen). Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) wrote the words to this ballad The Dying Bard. David Owen the Welsh bard of the ballad composed the tune on his death-bed on awakening from a trance in which be believed himself to have heard the tune in heaven.6 Oft in the Stilly Night. The words describe an old man's memories of the smiles the tears of boyhood years. The eyes that shone now dimmed and gone and how oft in the stilly night he remembers other days. The ballad is by the Irish poet Thomas Moore (1779 1852) who set the words to a traditional air.7- The Meeting of the Waters. Written by Thomas Moore music Irish traditional.The Meeting of the Waters is the confluence of the rivers Avonmore and Avonberg in a beautiful valley near Avoca County Wicklow.8 Oh! Charlie is my Darlin'. The

Though conceived as four separate movements my second string quartet has a single motif which is common to them all. This is the three-note 'Muss es sein?' from Beethoven's last quartet Op. 135. But whereas Beethoven's theme is notated G E A flat thus giving it an F minor connotation I have sued an alternative spelling - G E G sharp - which suggests an ambiguous E minor-major. This ambiguity in fact becomes the tonal basis of the whole work only to be resolved at the end of the final movement.Each movement begins with a variant of the basic motif on the cello. The first has the original form of the theme while the second has a 'majorised' version which is alsoexpressed as a chord. The third movement with its 'scherzoid' middle section reverts to the major-minor ambiguity of the first and the finale begins with the 'majorised' version as an ostinato accompaniment on pizzicato cello.The slow movement is sub-titled 'In memoriam DSCH' and concludes with a quotation of Shostakovich's motto - D E flat C B - which is basically the same as Beethoven's with the addition of one note.This is not to imply that the work contains no other thematic material. One important theme a rising fifth and a second is also common to three of the movements and is ultimately derived from my first quartet Op. 1 of 27 years earlier to which this second contribution to the form is in many ways like a sequel. Like the earlier work too this quartet is dedicated to my wife.

Contemporary String Quartet Repertoire For Established Ensembles-The Pioneer 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. Pioneer Series: Contemporary string quartet repertoire for established ensembles. Captivating contemporary concert repertoire for established quartets of grade 6-8 standard. Compositions are more pioneering in style and feature greater independence of parts and increased incorporation of extended techniques.

Contemporary String Quartet Repertoire For Established Ensembles-The Pioneer 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. Pioneer Series: Contemporary string quartet repertoire for established ensembles. Captivating contemporary concert repertoire for established quartets of grade 6-8 standard. Compositions are more pioneering in style and feature greater independence of parts and increased incorporation of extended techniques.

All In One for 3 String Quartets was composed by Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen in 2013 (String Quartet No.12 13 and 14 played simultaneously). Gudmundsen-Holmgreen has written a collection of three new string quartets: String Quartet no. 12 ‘Each in Each’; String Quartet no. 13 ‘Mutual Ordering’ and String Quartet no. 14 ‘Well-Tuned Sounds’. Each quartet can be played on its own; they can also played simultaneously in any combination. When all three quartets are played together as they are tonight the combined work is titled All in One. About this collection Gudmundsen-Holmgreenwrites: 'Some years ago Kronos and the vocal group Theatre of Voices performed three new pieces which I had written for the two groups: one for Theatre of Voices (Green) and two for Kronos (New Ground and No Ground). They were played and sung by each group independently – but also both groups together concurrently on top of each other as a final gesture. The combined pieces were called New Ground Green and No Ground Green. 'David liked the idea (and the result) of pairs of quartets that could be played both independently and simultaneously and asked me if the vocal quartet could be transformed into a string quartet. It could not. He then asked me to repeat the whole set-up with a new pair of quartets adding also some percussion instruments as was the case with Green for Theatre of Voices. Of course this was tempting. Furthermore David asked me to make one of the two new quartets a little easier to play. 'I began to work. The Kronos part of the pair of quartets turned out to be tough to play as David puts it. Unfortunately the ‘easier’ one was tough to play also! So I had to write one more which was then a little easier still (but still not easy). 'The three new works can be played separately and on top of each other in many different combinations resulting in different kinds of

Herbert Howells was an English composer organist and teacher most famous for his large output of Anglican Church music. However for this reason his secular compositions tend to be unreasonably neglected. Thisedition of the Fantasy String Quartet has set out to change this. The delightful piece of chamber music makes full use of the unique characteristics of String instruments giving all four players equal parts andopportunities to shine separately as well as together as an ensemble. Possibly inspired by Vaughan Williams’ Phantasy Quintet the Fantasy String Quartet requires skilful mastery of their instrument from eachplayer. Performance time is ca. 13 minutes.