Par MURAIL TRISTAN. Songes, ombres et fumées : le titre est emprunté à un vers du Sonnet 123 de Pétrarque (l'un des sonnets qui ont inspiré à Liszt trois pièces de ses Années de Pélerinage). Ces mots figurent aussi dans La Vallée Close, sur des sonnets de Pétrarque, pour voix, clarinette et trio à cordes, écrite cette même année 2016. Il s'agit avant tout d'un travail sur la 'grande forme' - une vaste trajectoire, qui passe par de nombreux territoires, revient sur ses pas, anticipe... Allusions aux formes traditionnelles : adagio central, rondo final - mais tout s'entremêle, et les différentes textures et idées musicales luttent entre elles sans cesse. Sont refusés tous les petits expédients qui permettent d'esquiver la grande question - la question posée par une forme musicale aussi chargée d'histoire que le quatuor à cordes - sont donc évités tous ces sons écrasés, divers petits bruits, gloussements d'harmoniques, qui prolifèrent dans tant de quatuors contemporains. Evitée aussi la segmentation en une succession de mouvements courts, au profit de la continuité du discours. Le thème est, comme le suggère le titre, la mélancolie - une mélancolie profonde et persistante. Une idée fixe (battements réguliers de pizzicati) jalonne la partition, s'affronte aux autres éléments musicaux, finira par triompher. Au long de cette trajectoire jailliront des visions, des hallucinations, des phases de dépression et d'excitation, de renoncement, d'espoir, de colère, de révolte... 'sogni, ombre et fumi...' / Contemporain / Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

Lubo? Fi?er (1935?1999) was one of the most distinctive figures of Czech music in the 20th century and composed the Variations on an Unknown Theme in 1976. The ?unknown theme? was a prankish eight-bar theme from Fi?er?s student days. In the elation following the home-team win over Canada on 15 March 1959, he made a bet with his colleague Kalach to compose a concert piece for violin and orchestra with the working title ?Canada-Rondo?. The whimsical contest was abandoned, but Fi?er did not forget the theme and he later created variations on it for his new composition for the Talich Quartet. The Variations on an Unknown Theme have now been published for the first time ever. This edition is based on the autograph of the score which is housed in the Czech Museum of Music in Prague.

Commissioned by the Presteigne Festival of Music and the Arts Limited with funds provided by the Arts Council of Wales for premiere in August 2012 by the Carducci String Quartet in St. Andrew?s Church Presteigne.Composer's Note'Some years ago I noted down the opening theme of what I anticipated would be a relatively Classical string quartet ?Classical? in the sense of the forms adopted plus perhaps a predominantly lyrical tone of voice. The commission for this work from the Presteigne Festival for their 30th anniversary in 2012 gave me the opportunity of putting into practice this long-held idea. It isdedicated to the Festival and to the Carducci Quartet whose career as much-admired friends and colleagues I have greatly enjoyed.The only break with ?classical? tradition is that there are five movements instead of four with two Scherzi as the second and third though both these are very short and contrasting. I found myself listening to Haydn?s string quartets a lot before and during the composition of this work and I hope the spirit of his delight in writing for this medium is echoed in my own music. The opening movement is in sonata form unusually for me and lyricism is I hope the basis of it though there is a good deal of activity at times. The Scherzo light and marked by frequently-changing rhythms is followed by an equally short but ferocious Perpetuum mobile marked Wild und rasch (one of my favourite German tempo markings). The fourth movement is an intense Adagio in which a single phrase uttered strongly in unison is gradually transformed into gentle diatonic chords before the close intermingled with cadenzas for cello for viola and for the two violins together. The finale (a Rondo) resumes the classical tone of the first movement but apart from one dance-like episode it builds up a fair head of steam towards a final Presto which however ascends slows and quietens towards a gentle summer sky at dusk.'

Commissioned by the Presteigne Festival of Music and the Arts Limited with funds provided by the Arts Council of Wales for premiere in August 2012 by the Carducci String Quartet in St. Andrew?s Church Presteigne.Composer's Note.'Some years ago I noted down the opening theme of what I anticipated would be a relatively Classical string quartet ?Classical? in the sense of the forms adopted plus perhaps a predominantly lyrical tone of voice. The commission for this work from the Presteigne Festival for their 30th anniversary in 2012 gave me the opportunity of putting into practice this long-held idea. It isdedicated to the Festival and to the Carducci Quartet whose career as much-admired friends and colleagues I have greatly enjoyed.The only break with ?classical? tradition is that there are five movements instead of four with two Scherzi as the second and third though both these are very short and contrasting. I found myself listening to Haydn?s string quartets a lot before and during the composition of this work and I hope the spirit of his delight in writing for this medium is echoed in my own music. The opening movement is in sonata form unusually for me and lyricism is I hope the basis of it though there is a good deal of activity at times. The Scherzo light and marked by frequently-changing rhythms is followed by an equally short but ferocious Perpetuum mobile marked Wild und rasch (one of my favourite German tempo markings). The fourth movement is an intense Adagio in which a single phrase uttered strongly in unison is gradually transformed into gentle diatonic chords before the close intermingled with cadenzas for cello for viola and for the two violins together. The finale (a Rondo) resumes the classical tone of the first movement but apart from one dance-like episode it builds up a fair head of steam towards a final Presto which however ascends slows and quietens towards a gentle summer sky at dusk.'

Edward Gregson's String Quartet was commissioned by The Manchester Mid-day Concerts Society in celebration of its 100th year. The premier performance took place on the 14th of January 2015 performed by the Navarra Quartet at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. The piece is divided into three distinct movements each developing and changing what has come before. When commenting on his compositional process for String Quartet Gregson noted that he desired to return to the classical principles of Beethoven and Bartok deciding to include extended sonata variation and rondo forms.