SKU: PR.144407270

UPC: 680160681891. 9 x 12 inches.

My Eighth and Ninth String Quartets, begun in late 2017, are sonic cousins. Akin to real cousins, each piece exhibits differing natures. They were requested by two ensembles that have become asecond familiesa to me: The Jupiter Quartet of Urbana, Illinois and the Amernet Quartet based in Miami, Florida. Their collective dedication to, and care for, our art remains a personal and constant are-fuelinga for me. The quartets were commissioned by, and dedicated to, Margaret and Philip Verleger of Denver, Colorado. Additional financial support was provided by the School of Music at Stetson University, Timothy Peter, Dean. Quartet No.8 is laid out in a classical four-movement design. The work does break somewhat from conventional tradition by often placing quartet members into soloistic roles as the movement titles note. individual The opening piece presents at the outset a three-note motto which is turned over, tumbled, and energetically discussed, primarily by a violin duet. It is a duel. The two players part company only infrequently during the movement's progress, pausing briefly for other commentary by their alower cohortsa, the Viola and Cello do not argue, but abet their friends' aeffortsa. The piece's overall character is fairly bright and dancelike, closing in an unresolvedastandoffa. not Two principal asound-objectsa stitch the second movement scherzo together: sliding hands (glissandos) and a plucked ashufflea (pizzicato) - both instigated by the (solo) cellist. The others are influenced - or are not - by their aleadera, and follow - or interrupt - the cello throughout their four-voiced conversation. The third movement (longest of the set) is an elegy dedicated to the memory of a close personal friend, the American composer David Maslanka (1943 - 2017). Its' genesis is a simple 5-note melody derived from my own name (SaC/DaC/EaC/H). This line commences in the (solo) viola and is obsessively uttered without relief during the movement's lamentations. The closing movement revisits much of that opening three-note material, but now dressed up for the full quartet to view. It is a slowly accelerating romp which - twice - cannot avoid a nod to the Amernet and Jupiter performers by offering a humble bow to the 4th movement of Gustav Holst's PLANETS - Jupiter: The Bringer of Jollity. My quartet serves as an honouring salute of thanks for the talent, respect, and friendship of these two young quartets. STRING QUARTET No. 8 is roughly 22 minutes in duration. It was written as an homage to Franz Joseph Haydn, my adesert-island-composera, and completed in Holly Hill, Florida in early April of 2019. S.H.

SKU: BT.EMBZ14386

''The four parts of the piece originate from the piano cycles of Johannes Brahms. The identical nature of the themes is implied in their descending direction, while their differences lie in their distinct meters, key signatures and tempo. I further developed the differences through the use of different musical alterations (of melody, rhythm and timbre) while the melodic contours are always constant. Depending on the listener's attention, the melody lines written above one another will be audible separately or appear to be in unison.'' (Balázs Horváth)

''Der Stoff der vier Stimmen des Stückes stammt aus den Klavierzyklen von Johannes Brahms. Die Übereinstimmung liegt in ihrer abwärts tendierenden Richtung, ihr Unterschied hingegen in abweichender Metrik, Tonart und Tempi. Die Unterschiede habe ich mit Hilfe unterschiedlicher musikalischer (melodischer, rhythmischer und tonaler) Veränderungen weitergewoben, während die Struktur der Melodien immer konstant bleibt. Die übereinander gelegten Melodienbögen erklingen abhängig von der Aufmerksamkeit des Hörers teils jede für sich, teils eine Einheit bildend.'' (Balázs Horváth).