SKU: HL.284555
UPC: 888680912901. 9x12 inches.
Composers note:I never imagined I would write a string quartet. Then I heard the JACK Quartet, and I understood how I might be able to make the medium my own. The result was The Wind in High Places - a twenty-minute work composed entirely on natural harmonics and open strings.Over the next few years, two more quartets followed. The second quartet, untouched, is a further exploration of the aeolian sound world of the first. Then, in Canticles of the Sky, the musicians finally touch the fingerboards of their instruments.And now comes Everything That Rises.This fourth quartet is more expansive, both in time and in space. It grows out of Sila: The Breath of the World - a performance-length choral/orchestral work composed on a rising series of sixteen harmonic clouds.Everything That Rises traverses this same territory, but in a much more melodic way.Each musician is a soloist, playing throughout. They surround the audience. Time floats.Over the course of an hour, the lines spin out - always rising - in acoustically perfect intervals that grow progressively smaller as they spiral upward... until the music dissolves into the soft noise of the bows, sighing.
SKU: PR.16400272S
UPC: 680160588442. 8.5 x 11 inches.
My third quartet is laid out in a three-movement structure, with each movement based on an early, middle, and late work of the great American impressionist painter Mary Cassatt. Although the movements are separate, with full-stop endings, the music is connected by a common scale-form, derived from the name MARY CASSATT, and by a recurring theme that introduces all three movements. I see this theme as Mary's Theme, a personality that stays intact while undergoing gradual change. I The Bacchante (1876) [Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania] The painting shows a young girl of Italian or Spanish origin, playing a small pair of cymbals. Since Cassatt was trying very hard to fit in at the French Academy at the time, she painted a lot of these subjects, which were considered typical and universal. The style of the painting doesn't yet show Cassatt's originality, except perhaps for certain details in the face. Accordingly the music for this movement is Spanish/Italian, in a similar period-style but using the musical signature described above. The music begins with Mary's Theme, ruminative and slow, then abruptly changes to an alla Spagnola-type fast 3/4 - 6/8 meter. It evokes the Spanish-influenced music of Ravel and Falla. Midway through, there's an accompanied recitative for the viola, which figures large in this particular movement, then back to a truncated recapitulation of the fast music. The overall feeling is of a well-made, rather conventional movement in a contemporary Spanish/Italian style. Cassatt's painting, too, is rather conventional. II At the Opera (1880) [Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts] This painting is one of Cassatt's most well known works, and it hangs in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The painting shows a woman alone in a box at the opera house, completely dressed (including gloves) and looking through opera glasses at someone or something that is NOT on the stage. Across the auditorium from her, but exactly at eye level, is a gentleman with opera glasses intently watching her - though it is not him that she's looking at. It's an intriguing picture. This movement is far less conventional than the first movement, as the painting is far less conventional. The music begins with a rapid, Shostakovich-type mini-overture lasting less than a minute, based on Mary's Theme. My conjecture is that the woman in the painting has arrived late to the opera, busily stumbling into her box. What happens next is a kind of collage, a kind of surrealistic overlaying of two different elements: the foreground music, at first is a direct quotation of Soldier's Chorus from Gounod's FAUST (an opera Cassatt would certainly have heard in the brand-new Paris Opera House at that time), played by Violin II, Viola, and Cello. This music is played sul ponticello in the melody and col legno in the marching accompaniment. On top of this, the first violin hovers at first on a high harmonic, then descends into a slow melody, completely separate from the Gounod. It's as if the woman in the painting is hearing the opera onstage but is not really interested in it. Then the cello joins the first violin in a kind of love-duet (just the two of them, at first). This music isn't at all Gounod-derived; it's entirely from the same scale patterns as the first movement and derives from Mary's Theme and its scale. The music stays in a kind of dichotomy feeling, usually three-against-one, until the end of the movement, when another Gounod melody, Valentin's aria Avant de quitter ce lieux reappears in a kind of coda for all four players. It ends atmospherically and emotionally disconnected, however. The overall feeling is a kind of schizophrenic, opera-inspired dream. III Young Woman in Green, Outdoors in the Sun (1909) [Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts] The painting, one of Cassatt's last, is very simple: just a figure, looking sideways out of the picture. The colors are pastel and yet bold - and the woman is likewise very self-assured and not in the least demure. It is eight minutes long, and is all about melody - three melodies, to be exact (Young Woman, Green, and Sunlight). No angst, no choppy rhythms, just ever-unfolding melody and lush harmonies. I quote one other French composer here, too: Debussy's song Green, from Ariettes Oubliees. 1909 would have been Debussy's heyday in Paris, and it makes perfect sense musically as well as visually to do this. Mary Cassatt lived her last several years in near-total blindness, and as she lost visual acuity, her work became less sharply defined - something akin to late water lilies of Monet, who suffered similar vision loss. My idea of making this movement entirely melodic was compounded by having each of the three melodies appear twice, once in a pure form, and the second time in a more diffuse setting. This makes an interesting two ways form: A-B-C-A1-B1-C1. String Quartet No.3 (Cassatt) is dedicated, with great affection and respect, to the Cassatt String Quartet, whose members have dedicated themselves in large measure to the furthering of the contemporary repertoire for quartet.
SKU: PR.164002720
UPC: 680160573042. 8.5 x 11 inches.
SKU: PR.114405050
UPC: 680160008377. 11 x 14 inches.
Although structurally it subdivides into five movements, the entire quartet emerges as one vast continuum. There are no formal breaks between movements. However, certain musical signposts can be discerned, associated with each of the movements' terminations and new beginnings. The opening movement, The Nostalgia of Clanging Bell Sonorities, begins floating on recurrent Bbs whose soft rhythmic flow slowly puts into motion strong undercurrents suggestive of the latent power of water... After several suggestions of tolling bells, the movement gradually fades into hushed tones of veiled and very distant sonorities. It uses a unique efffect, for the first time in a musical context, conveyed through the use of extra heavy practice mutes. The second movement, The Spill of Water , disengages itself from the first through its distinct contrast in tempo. Water moves fast, and when it splashes, it tends to run wildly. In this case, it happens to be bubbly water that gushes forth bodly... smashing across rocky shorlines. So, too, the music attempts to conjure such moods. At the end of this movement, a cello cadenza emerges, introducing an introspective type of melodicism. The third movement, The Poignancy of Memory, contains many silences as it tries to convey memory through fragmented remembrances much like often occur in our dream state. Progressing through several slowly building images, it gradually works itself into juxtaposition of musical images. Towards the movement's end, high harmonics are sounding in all four instruments while left hand pizzicato notes in the cello pluch the last remembrances of this central core. Almost imperceptibly, the viola assumes leadership as it dissolves into: The fourth movement, The Fluidity of Motion, which has mostly the viola, but also the cello, articulating lyrical statements against the sheets of sound conjured up by the two violins playing a flood of swirling figures, evokes a kind of static motion in spae. Here, the virtually imperceptible manner in which this hushed whisper continues incessantly, can suggest the potential fluidity with which movement may inch forward... Later into the fourth movement , two fairly extended solos by the second and then the first violins, lead to a kind of spontaneous dialogue among the four instrumentalists. Eventually, this musical conversation gets caught up in: The fifth movement's The Rush of Time, which opens with a hushed flurry of speed, precipitates the Finale. It generates, at first slowly, but then very swiftly, whole shifts of rhythmic fields that initially seem to conflict with one another. Ultimately, this use of 'psycho-rhythmics contributes to an on-rush of motion and time. Rhythmic changes are, at times, abruptly precipitated with but little or no preparation creating a kind of inevitability in forward thrust, while the movement rushes forward with a feeling of gradual and continuous acceleration. It gathers density as more and more notes are piled progressively upon successive beats. The attempt is to spark tension and ignite excitement by means of frenetic confrontations of dissimilitudes. Ultimately - with the help of time - these polarities centrifically spin out their own destinies with their accompanying fall-out and own inevitable resolutions.
SKU: PR.11440505S
UPC: 680160008391. 11 x 14 inches.
Although structurally it subdivides into five movements, the entire quartet emerges as one vast continuum. There are no formal breaks between movements. However, certain musical signposts can be discerned, associated with each of the movements' terminations and new beginnings. The opening movement, The Nostalgia of Clanging Bell Sonorities, begins floating on recurrent Bbs whose soft rhythmic flow slowly puts into motion strong undercurrents suggestive of the latent power of water... After several suggestions of tolling bells, the movement gradually fades into hushed tones of veiled and very distant sonorities. It uses a unique effect, for the first time in a musical context, conveyed through the use of extra heavy practice mutes. The second movement, The Spill of Water, disengages itself from the first through its distinct contrast in tempo. Water moves fast, and when it splashes, it tends to run wildly. In this case, it happens to be bubbly water that gushes forth bodly... smashing across rocky shorelines. So, too, the music attempts to conjure such moods. At the end of this movement, a cello cadenza emerges, introducing an introspective type of melodicism. The third movement, The Poignancy of Memory, contains many silences as it tries to convey memory through fragmented remembrances much like often occur in our dream state. Progressing through several slowly building images, it gradually works itself into juxtaposition of musical images. Towards the movement's end, high harmonics are sounding in all four instruments while left hand pizzicato notes in the cello pluck the last remembrances of this central core. Almost imperceptibly, the viola assumes leadership as it dissolves into: The fourth movement, The Fluidity of Motion, which has mostly the viola, but also the cello, articulating lyrical statements against sheets of sound conjured up by the two violins playing a flood of swirling figures, evokes a kind of static motion in space. Here , the virtually imperceptible manner in which this hushed whisper continues incessantly, can suggest the potential fluidity with which movement may inch forward... Later into the fourth movement, two fairly extended solos by the second and then the first violins, lead to a kind of spontaneous dialogue amont the four instrumentalists. Eventually, this musical conversation gets caught up in: The fifth movement's The Rush of Time, which opens with a hushed flurry of speed, precipitates the Finale. It generates, at first slowly, but then very swiftly, whole shifts of rhythmic fields that initially seem to conflict with one another. Ultimately, this use of psycho-rhythmics contributes to an on-rush seem of motion and time. Rhythmic changes are, at times, abruptly precipitated with but little or no preparation creating a kind of inevitability in forward thrust, while the movement rushes forward with a feeling of gradual and continuous acceleration. It gathers density as more and more notes are piled progressively upon successive beats. The attempt is to spark tension and ignite excitement by means of frenetic confrontations of dissimilitudes. Ultimately - with the help of time - these polarities centrifically spin out their own destinies with their accompanying fall-out and own inevitable resolutions.
SKU: 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.
SKU: BR.KM-2261
ISBN 9790004501658. 16.5 x 11.5 inches.
Gran Torso, for string quartet, was composed in 1971 and revised in 1978. It belongs to a series of works, including Air, Kontrakadenz, Pression and Klangschatten, whose concept of material attempts to free itself from convention. That is, instead of using the sound itself as a point of departure, structural and formal hierarchies are derived from the mechanical and physical conditions present during the process of sound production. It is clear that such a radical break with tradition is not easily achieved: the instrument, the given means, the resonating body itself (as the embodiment of convention) all work against such attempts (with the extended performance techniques representing only the tip of the iceberg of deep-seated contradictions where the bourgeois artist is concerned). Implicit in such a challenge, however, is a claim to aesthetic pregnance: an offer, if one would have it, of uncomprosing beauty.(Helmut Lachenmann, 1978)CDs/LPs:Berner StreichquartettCD col legno 0647 277Berner StreichquartettLP col legno 5504Societa Cameristica ItalianaLP ABT ERZ 1003Arditti String QuartetCD KAIROS, 0012662KAIstadler quartettCD NEOS 10806The JACK QuartetCD mode 267Stadler Quartett, Rg. Caroline SiegersDVD NEOS 51001Bibliography:Alberman, David: Abnormal Playing Techniques in the String Quartets of Helmut Lachenmann, in: Helmut Lachenmann Music with matches, hrsg. von Dan Albertson, Contemporary Music Review 24 (2005), Vol. 1, pp. 39-51.Dulaney, Maxwell: Continuing the Tradition Untraditionally: Helmut Lachenmann's Restructuring of Musical Dialectic through an Analysis of his Three String Quartets, and an Original Composition, Harmonic Concerto, Diss. Brandeis University, MI 2013.Egger, Elisabeth: Kontinuitat, Verdichtung, Synchronizitat. Zu den grossformalen Funktionen des gepressten Bogenstrichs in Helmut Lachenmanns Streichquartetten, in: Musik als Wahrnehmungskunst. Untersuchungen zu Kompositionsmethodik und Horasthetik bei Helmut Lachenmann, hrsg. von Christian Utz und Clemens Gadenstatter (= musik.theorien der gegenwart 2), Saarbrucken: Pfau 2008, pp. 155-171.Hermann, Matthias: Helmut Lachenmann - Gran Torso, in: Analyse Musik XX. Jahrhundert (2). Postserielle Konzepte Klangflachen Aleatorik (= Materialien zur Musiktheorie 4), Saarbrucken: Pfau 2002, pp. 134-152.Hiekel, Jorn Peter: Die Streichquartett Gran Torso und Grido von Helmut Lachenmann, in: Lucerne Festival, Sommer 2005 Neuland, Konzertprogramm 6, pp. 65-69.Houben, Eva-Maria: Helmut Lachenmann: Gran Torso ..., in: dies., Musikalische Praxis als Lebensform (= Musik und Klangkultur 27), Bielefeld: Transcript 2018, S. 208-212Lehmann, Harry: Erhabenheit - Ereignis - Ambivalenz. Zur Asthetik der Neuen Musik, in: Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik 176 (2015), Heft 5, pp. 22-27.Mosch, Ulrich: Kunst als Medium der Ungeborgenheit. Streichquartette und soziale Funktion des Komponierens bei Helmut Lachenmann, in: Positionen 81 (November 2009), pp. 37-39.ders.: Was heisst Interpretation bei Helmut Lachenmanns Streichquartett ,,Gran Torso?, in: Wessen Klange? Uber Autorschaft in neue Musik, hrsg. Von Hermann Danuser und Matthias Kassel (= Veroffentlichungen der Paul Sacher Stiftung 12), Mainz u.a.: Schott 2017, S. 163-186Nonnenmann, Rainer: Werke als Schlussel zu Werken? Zur umstrittenen Kategorie ,,Schlusselwerke der neuen Musik, in: MusikTexte, Heft 147 (November 2015), pp. 35-46.Stork, Astrid: Materialbegriff und Strukturdenken. Untersuchungen zu den Streichquartetten von Helmut Lachenmann, Magisterarbeit Ruhr-Universitat Bochum 1992Tsao, Ming: Helmut Lachenmann's Sound Types, in: Perspectives of New Music 52 (2014), Heft 1, pp. 217-238.Velazquez, Rossana Lara: Composicion y escucha burguesa: Principios de continuidad y ruptura en el cuarteto Gran Torso de Helmut Lachenmann, Diss. Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico 2011.Zenck, Martin: Die mehrfache Codierung der Figur: Ihr defigurativer und torsohafter Modus bei Johann Sebastian Bach, Helmut Lachenmann und Auguste Rodin, in: de figura. Rhetorik Bewegung Gestalt, Text und Bild, hrsg. von Gabriele Brandstetter und Sibylle Peters, Munchen 2003, pp. 265-288.World premiere: Bremen (pro musica nova), May 6, 1972.
SKU: FG.55011-881-2
The first composer to warrant a place in the musical history of Finland, Erik Tulindberg (1761-1814) was an excellent violinist, and he also played the cello. His musical reputation spread all the way to Stockholm (Finland was at that time part of the Kingdom of Sweden), and in 1797 was there admitted as a member of the Royal Academy of Music.The I violin, viola and cello parts of Tulindberg’s String Quartets were discovered in 1923 in the collections of Helsinki University Library. They were copies of the instrumental parts presumably made by Tulindberg himself, though they were possibly never used during his lifetime. Not only is the whole of the II violin part missing; the first movement of the viola part of the fifth Quartet stops in the middle of a phrase, and the last 60 bars or so of the movement’s manuscript page are just empty staves.In the early 2000s, the Rantatie Quartet asked Anssi Mattila whether he would like to reconstruct the missing II violin part. The job was finished in 2004 and the Rantatie Quartet released a Classical Emma-winning disc of the Quartets in 2006.This product includes the full score and the set of parts.
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