String Quartet

SKU: SU.29120020

For String Quartet. Composed by Todd Mason. Score & Parts. Subito Music Corporation #29120020. Published by Subito Music Corporation (SU.29120020).

String Quartet No. 1 is a powerful and harmonically dynamic string quartet in four movements. It mixes both tonal and dissonant musical landscapes in an elegant way. The quartet may also be experienced as a kind of coming-of-age story. After the calm first movement’s confident simplicity of youth, the second movement reflects the increasing complications and conflicts of young adulthood, with fraught exploration, the discovery of possible romance, and new tensions now replacing the youthful calm. The third movement reflects on maturity and the experiences of love and loss, before the finale—a set of complex chromatic fugues—evokes the fight against fate and time to achieve one’s goals in life. The movement’s end briefly recapitulates the first movement, suggesting that ultimately life comes full circle as we see the totality of our experience. As LA Opus music critic, John Stodder, said about this work, The protagonist discovers the presence of life's purpose. String Quartet Duration: 19' Composed: 2019 Published by: Todd Mason.

String Quartet (Parts)

SKU: HL.14037707

Parts. Composed by Kevin Volans. Music Sales America. Contemporary. Softcover. Composed 2010. 80 pages. Chester Music #CH7452501. Published by Chester Music (HL.14037707).

ISBN 9781849385916. UPC: 884088578626. 8.25x11.75x0.262 inches.

Kevin Volans' String Quartet No. 9: Shiva Dances was commissioned by BBC Radio 3 and first performed by the Smith Quartet at the 2004 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.

Kevin Volans (the composer) notes on the piece:
In the past I have been interested in trying to go beyond historicism (1970s), beyond style(1980s) and beyond form (1990s) in my work. Looking back over the music of the twentiethcentury I was struck by the fact the nearlyall of it is extremely 'busy', almost cluttered. Italmost seemed that composers felt compelled to look industrious. In the new millennium Ithought it would be interesting to try and eliminate content. I also aspired to movingfrommusic (sound as art) to art (art as sound). This, of course, has already been done by a numberof composers (many from New York - Phil Niblock and La Monte Young, to name but two), butit was something I had never tried.AlthoughI found it annoying that the label 'minimalist' was given to my African-based work,and fearing this would make the label stick, I set out to write a piece which reflected my loveof minimal painting and architecture. The Japanesehave a term 'wabi' meaning 'voluntarypoverty' or 'emptiness' to describe their restrained minimal aesthetic, an aesthetic which,however, pays greatest attention to the quality of material and fine detail. I like to think thatthelack of excessive pitch material in this piece reflects a kind of voluntary poverty.When Shiva is portrayed dancing (as Nataraj) He is depicted in a circle of flames crushing asmall figure - the ego - underfoot.You get theimpression He dances on the spot, not movingaround at all. I like that.
The piece is dedicated to Pablo Pascual Cilleruelo.

String Quartet (2vl,va,vc)

SKU: BR.EB-9244

Set of Parts. Composed by Christian Mason. Chamber music; stapled. Edition Breitkopf. World premiere of the original version: London, May 10, 2016World premiere of the string orchestra version: Clermont-Ferrand, October 8, 2020. New music (post-2000). Set of parts. Composed 2016/2020. 92 pages. Duration 19'. Breitkopf and Haertel #EB 9244. Published by Breitkopf and Haertel (BR.EB-9244).

ISBN 9790004185445. 9 x 12 inches.

It was the practice of Khoomii (throat singing) - following several workshops with Michael Ormiston - that first attracted me to Tuvan music. Composing this Songbook, the first in a series commissioned by the Ligeti Quartet, I took the chance to reflect on compositional questions around transcription and arrangement of existing music, and frequently found myself asking: where is the boundary between the source material and the new substance? Of course the relationship varies from piece to piece, and moment to moment: sometimes we seem to glimpse the pure source, but most of the time there are differing degrees of distance, working towards or away from it. This new version for string orchestra corresponds closely to the original quartet version, with an additional part for double basses.The traditional Tuvan songs that I have transcribed and recomposed are all known to me from the Ay Kherel CD The Music of Tuva: Throat Singing and Instruments from Central Asia (2004, Arc Music). According to the notes from that CD, this is what the songs are about:1. Dyngylday: If you have come on a horse in blue, it doesn't mean that you are the best. My heart tells me something else: my sweetheart doesn't have such a beautiful horse, but he is my darling.An alternative interpretation from Alash Ensemble (alashensemble.com): The word dyngylday is a nonsense term with no translation. The song makes good-humored fun of somebody for being a good-for-nothing.2. Eki Attar (The Best Steeds): The horse is the basis of our life. It is a magic creature. Even its step is full of music and rhythm. You may not be a horse rider, but when you hear this song you will always remember horses.3. Kuda Yry: This wedding song glorifies the strength of the groom and the beauty of his Horse.4. Ezir-Kara ('Black Eagle'): This was the name of a horse, who became a legend through his remarkable strength and speed.It is not just overtones that abound here: there are galloping rhythms aplenty, and though I am no horse rider I tried to keep the horses galloping in my imagination while composing these pieces.Christian Mason (with quotes from Ay Kherel and Alash Ensemble)

World premiere of the original version: London/UK, May 10, 2016, World premiere of the string orchestra version: Clermont-Ferrand/France, October 8, 2020.