String Quartet #7 'The Extinguishable' was composed by Thomas Agerfeldt Olesen in 2014. / Quatuor A Cordes

Par SCHLEE THOMAS DANIEL. For composer Thomas Daniel Schlee, the 'intimate sound possibilities of the string quartet” have the potential 'to formulate an, albeit 'only' individual, solution to the somewhat forlorn condition of new art music within society that we are unfortunately experiencing today.” Schlee's Fourth String Quartet opens with a pure C major sound, out of which he develops a harmonically free band of voices: 'The pure as a source, not pleasing”! After a melodically dominating episode and a continuation of the 'swinging tone-motion from the beginning”, a thematically solidified section follows. It is met by a second, more extensive melodic episode, followed by a 'nightly scene”. Coming full circle, the opening music of the piece finds its continuation, leading into a lament – first articulated by the ensemble, then finally as 'the viola's long, forlorn search for the melody symbolizing a farewell.”/ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

Par LARCHER THOMAS. It was not until his late twenties that the pianist, Thomas Larcher, known as an expert of contemporary music, began his career as a composer. Among his most interesting works is the string quartet 'Cold Farmer'. This fifteen-minute work is characterized by moods changing in a blocklike manner. The features of minimal music can be recognized particularly in the fast repetitive sections. The two slow parts acknowledge a tonal language again and again. The first, astonishingly, begins openly in C major, the end of the string quartet fades away in C# Minor. 'Cold Farmer' is released on Larcher's second portrait CD on the renowned label ECM, as is his work 'Mumien' for violoncello and piano already available from Schott (CB 182)./ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

Par ADES THOMAS. Thomas Adès’s second work for string quartet, The Four Quarters was written for the Emerson Quartet and was premiered by them at Carnegie Hall in 2011. The winner of the 2012 British Composer Award for Chamber Composition, the 20-minute work charts the progress of a day. Glassy harmonics typify the opening movement Nightfalls, whilst playful pizzicati abound in Serenade – Morning Dew. A sombre third movement, Days, is underpinned by a searching ostinato before the work breaks free from conventional time in The Twenty-Fifth Hour, the glittering finale which swings and dances in the unusual time signature of 25/16. / Ensemble Music / Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

Par ADES THOMAS. The first performance was given by the Endellioon Quartet in the West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge as part of the Cambridge Elgar Festival on 16 November 1994./ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes