String Quartet SKU: HL.14036341 Composed by Hugh Wood. Music Sales Americ...(+)
String Quartet
SKU:
HL.14036341
Composed
by Hugh Wood. Music Sales
America. Classical. Set.
Composed 2001. Chester
Music #CH60931. Published
by Chester Music
(HL.14036341).
ISBN
9780711955080.
Comm
issioned by the BBC and
premiered by the
Chilingirian String
Quartet. Quoting Wood: In
my Second and Third
Quartets I attempted
sectional, agglutinative
forms: in my Fourth I
return to the
conventional four
movement form of my First
Quartet of 1962. Both
works build up (as in the
19th century symphony) to
the Finale, thus making
it the most substantial
movement, which provides
a climax to the work. The
First Movement has, in
both works, only the
status of an
Introduction. But there
the consciously willed
resemblances end. This
Introduction follows the
Second Quartet to a
certain extent, in that
it provides a sort of
'cauldron', from which
elements to be used later
can all be plucked. Its
opening will reappear at
various points throughout
the work, most completely
at a climatic point of
the Finale (bar 110).
Subsequent material will
be more fully worked out
in the second movement, a
large Scherzo. The
Introduction concludes
with an unusually placed
violin cadenza (itself a
rare feature in a string
quartet, the idea lifted
from Elliott Carter's
First Quartet) of which
the opening is to
reappear halfway through
the Finale. The Scherzo
(which follows attacca)
does not have at its
centre a discretely
characterized Trio: a
figure in double-stops
like a distant fanfare
supplies the necessary
contrast of a second
idea. The Slow Movement
has a secondary idea
first heard on the cello
and marked appassionato:
an agitato middle section
recalls the opening of
the work, but in a
formulation which will be
found closely to
anticipate its
reappearance in the
Finale. The Finale is
planned on a broad scale.
Only after a fully worked
exposition of both
primary and secondary
material does the opening
of the whole work return,
now in a greatly extended
form. Then, at bar 140,
the tune of the violin
cadenza is first
harmonized in fanfare
style on the upper
instruments, then
presented as a chorale on
the lower ones, with a
rushing semiquaver
accompaniment above. This
climatic activity mounts
to the very end. The work
is dedicated to the
Chilingirian Quartet, old
friends over many years.
Score available
separately: SOS04044.
Album Volume 2 Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle [Conducteur et Parties séparées] - Intermédiaire Editions Marc Reift (Swiss import)
Arranged by Jerome Naulais. String Quartet. For 2 Violin, Viola, Violoncello. Sw...(+)
Arranged by Jerome
Naulais. String Quartet.
For 2 Violin, Viola,
Violoncello. Swiss
import. Level: Grade 3.
Published by Editions
Marc Reift. (EMR 4732)
Harbor Music Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle Theodore Presser Co.
String Quartet SKU: PR.16400222S Composed by Dan Welcher. Full score (stu...(+)
String Quartet
SKU:
PR.16400222S
Composed
by Dan Welcher. Full
score (study). With
Standard notation.
Duration 11 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#164-00222S. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.16400222S).
UPC:
680160037841.
This
work follows my Quartet
No. 1 by five years. In
terms of style and
aesthetic aim, however,
it seems light years
away. Where the first
work, a 28-minute,
four-movement piece, took
aim at cosmic conflicts
and heroic resolutions,
the present work is
intended as a kind of
divertissment. Harbor
Music lasts a mere eleven
minutes, is cast in a
single movement with six
sections, and should
leave both performers and
listeners with a feeling
of good humor and
affection. The
title comes from my
experience as a guest in
the magnificent city of
Sydney, Australia. One of
its most attractive
features is its unique
system of ferry boats:
the city is laid out
around a large,
multi-channeled harbor,
with destinations more
easily approached by
water than by land.
Consequently, inhabitants
of Sydney get around on
small, people-friendly
boats that come and go
from the central docks at
Circular Quay. During a
week's visit in 1991, I
must have boarded these
boats at least a dozen
times, always bound for a
new location - the resort
town of Manley, or the
Zoo at Taronga Park, or
the shopping district at
Darling Harbour.
In casting about for a
form for my second string
quartet, a kind of loose
rondo came to mind. Each
new destination would be
approached from the same
starting-out point
(although there are
subtle variations in the
repeating theme; it's
always in a new key, and
the texture is never the
same). The result, I
hope, is a sense of
constant new information
presented with
introductory frames of a
more familiar nature.
The embarkation
theme, which begins the
piece, is a sort of
bi-tonal fanfare in which
the violins are in G
major and the viola and
cello are in B-flat
major. It is bold, eager,
and forward-looking. The
first voyage maintains
this bi-tonality,
beginning as a 9/8 due
for second violin and
viola in a kind of
rocking motion -much as a
boat produces when
reaching the deeper water
in the harbor. A sweet,
nostalgic theme emerges
over this rocking
accompaniment. This music
is developed somewhat,
then transforms quickly
into a much faster and
lighter episode, filled
with rising and falling
scales (again, in
differing keys). A
scherzando interlude in
short notes and changing
meters provides contrast,
and the episode ends with
a reprise of the scales.
The second
embarkation follows, this
time in A major/C major.
It leads quickly into a
very warm and slow theme,
in wide-leaping intervals
for the viola. This
section is interrupted
twice by solo cadenzas
for the cello, suggesting
distant boat-horns in
major thirds. The end of
the episode becomes a
transition, with
boat-horns leading into
the final appearance of
the embarkation music,
this time in trills and
tremolos instead of
sharply accented chords.
The nostalgic theme of
the first episode makes a
final appearance, serving
now as a coda. The
rocking motion continues,
in a lullaby fashion,
leaving us drowsy and
satisfied on our homeward
journey. Harbor
Music was written for the
Cavani Quartet, and is
dedicated to Richard J.
Bogomolny. Commissioned
by his employees at First
National Supermarkets as
a gift, it represents a
thank you from many of
the people (including
this composer) who have
benefitted from his
vision and generosity. An
ardent advocate of
chamber music (and a
cellist himself), Mr.
Bogomolny has for many
years been Chairman of
the Board of Chamber
Music America. -- Dan
Welcher.