The Full Score for Peter Maxwell Davies’ fourth in a series of ten string quartets commissioned by the Naxos Recording company first performed by the Maggini Quartet on 20th August 2004 at the Chapel of the Royal Palace Oslo Norway as part of the Olso Chamber Music Festival. Composer Note: The fourth Naxos quartet was written in January and February of 2004 with the intention of producing something lighter and much less fierce than itspredecessor an unpremeditated and spontaneous reaction to the illegal invasion of Iraq.I returned to the well-known Brueghel picture of children's games (1560 now in Vienna) which had been the inspiration for my sixthStrathclyde Concerto for flute and orchestra. These illustrations liberated my musical imagination but I feel it would limit the listener's perception to be too specific about which game relates to exactly which section of thework. Suffice it to say that there is vigorous play - leap-frog bind the devil with a cord truss wrestling - alongside quieter pastimes - masks guess whom I shall choose courting odds and evens. The single movementjuxtaposes these activities as abruptly and intimately as they occur in Brueghel. Rather as the eye is taken into different perspectives and proportions of scale within the picture taking liberties which would never be presentin for instance Brunelleschi architectural drawings so here with a constant sequence of transformation processes I have distorted the neat precise implications of modal progression expressed in the unison opening phrase(from F to B through A sharp/B flat) so that the ear is led en route into the sound equivalents of strange passageways and closed rooms: sicut exposition ludus. As work on the quartet progressed I became aware that Iwas reading into and behind the games adult motives and implications concerning aggression and war with their consequences. It was impossible to escape into innocent childhood fantasy. The nature of the F to B

Par SCHOENBERG ARNOLD. Here the fourths, springing from an entirely different expressive urge, shape themselves into a defi nite horn theme, spread themselves out architectonically over the whole piece, and place their stamp on everything that happens. Thus it turns out that they do not appear here merely as melody or as a purely impressionistic chord effect; their character permeates the total harmonic structure, and they are chords like all others.' (Arnold Schoenberg, Theory of Harmony, 1911) The Chamber Symphony Op.9 heralded a breakthrough in Schoenberg's compositional style. While the work did not go hand in hand with the complete destruction of the old tonal system it does show an extension in chordal and melodic constructions. It's focus on the interval of the fourth rather than the third is stated right at the start with the horn fanfare and this leads into the use of the whole tone scale soon after. These two elements open up a new sound space which he would explore further in the works to follow. Certainly not a work to be missing from any library where contemporary music is one of the main focuses./ Répertoire / Ensemble de Musique de Chambre

Artiste: Arpad Pejtsik. The latest volume in this popular series expands the repertoire of intermediate violoncello pupils with some unusual transcriptions. This time the editor, Árpád Pejtsik, has arranged Ave Maria settings (one song and three choral works) for four cellos. The first is a classical music hit, Schubert's Ave Maria. Next is the transcription of a little-known piece from Liszt's vast output, an item from his 1879 choral work Rosario, followed by an arrangement of the first of Verdi's Quattro pezzi sacri, famous for being based on an ''enigmatic scale'' (scala enigmatica). The volume concludes with another evergreen, the Ave Maria from Rachmaninoff's All-Night Vigil. Rather than testing the players' virtuosity, these slow-moving, contemplative pieces serve more to improve intonation skills as well as a sense of form and proportion. The editor has added suggested fingerings and bowings in order to help with the music's appropriate interpretation. / Niveau : Intermédiaire à Avancé / Classique / Recueil / 4 Violoncelles

Written for Moray Welsh whilst still an undergraduate at York University. This piece was completed in mid-September. Inspired by Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf. A solo 'cello seemed an appropriate medium for music which might explore the character of Harry Haller with his desire for bourgeois comfort and his strong misanthropic and suicidal tendencies. The opening theme attempts to express this - melancholy nostalgic a bit Biedermeyer (cf. Brahms Intermezzi). The basic theme of the book at its simplest is that every human personality consists of hundred of different personalities - within every man there lurks a wolf. Accordingly the tendency of my piece is for allits musical material to become distorted either by thematic transformation or by changes of timbre. There are three movements played without a break. The first is a character portrait of the Steppenwolf. The second is concerned in the most general sort of way with the dance elements in the novel - Harry's being taught to dance and appreciate low 'popular' music - a tango is recapitulated in a waltz and 'Yearning' a popular song of the time (1927) is hinted at. The third movement concerns the Masked Ball and the Magic Theatre. Mozart is one of Hesse's great loves and he is repeatedly mentioned in the book. Inevitably some Mozart quotes have been worked in the most significant being a reference to The Magic Flute 'fire and water' flute theme in the middle of the second movement. Long before I finished the piece I was disenchanted with the work of Hesse. Much of Steppenwolf I now find rather embarrassing and the claims currently made for Hesse's greatness seem to me exaggerated. Since my piece is in no important sense programmatically specific this change of heart doesn't really matter.© David Blake

Par SCHWEITZER BENJAMIN. The chiaroscuro-technique developed by painters of the Italian renaissance served to intensify contrasts and effects of optical depth. In Klar/Obskur, I tried to transfer the general idea of this technique on the rather unusual instrumentation of two double-reed woodwinds and piano. On the one hand, a clear, well articulated playing is characteristic for these instruments, on the other hand, they have an often underestimated potential of „twilight“: air-sounds and fragile, shady colours have a especially attractive when being produced by double-reed instruments (which are often, and superficially regarded as being less capable of differentiated sounds than flute or clarinet). The piano, too, has a broad bandwidth of possibilities between percussive and delicate playing to complement the woodwinds which, in return, can absorb and continue the fading piano sounds. The beginning introduces the two contrasting elements that form the basic material for the piece: a clear, sharp chord, followed by fragile, dim sounds. The changes between these elements as well as their combination and amalgamation produce an enormous spectrum of colours and gesture. After this „motto-like“ opening follow four quite clearly separated short sections, each of them being characterised by a well-defined texture: a partly almost imperceptible air-sound passage, a short sequence of microintervallic notes, a burst of virtuosity and a recourse to the fragile sounds of the beginning. The second, longer main part consists of three sections merging subtly into each other: a short unisono-passage, marked elastic [federnd], is being dissolved into its basic elements; from these remainders, a confrontation of low, ‚arcane‘ bassoon and piano sounds and a strongly ornamented melodic line of the oboe emerges, leading to a short but powerful climax. The piece is concluded by an extended, relaxed epilogue, containing a short piano solo and a duet of oboe and bassoon and, finally, a quotation of the „elastic“ character of the middle section. Benjamin Schweitzer / Date parution : 2007-11-20/ Répertoire / Hautbois, Basson et Piano

Demanding salon music for string quartet (with double-bass ad libitum) is provided by Wolfgang Birtel in his 'Latin Dances' with four titles which can be played individually or as a little suite. The first dance is the chorinho 'Não me toques' by Zequinha de Abreu (1880-1935) who not only wrote 'Tico Tico' but also other rousing pieces of music. Ernesto Nazareth (1863-1934) is considered to be the 'inventor' of the Brazilian tango and waltz: He titled the waltz, which follows as second title, 'Ingenious'. These rather unknown titles are followed by two absolute worldwide hits: 'Bolada de Aficionado' by A.G. Villoldo and then the everlasting beguine 'Bésame Mucho' by the Mexican composer Consuelo Velázques (1916-2005). Whether individually or as a 'four-pack' - the fingers will be twitching and the toes will be tingling for this music carries away musicians and audience alike. / Quatuor A Cordes

Music for Clarinet in Bb, Cello and Piano. Par JOST CHRISTIAN. In this trio, as in most of his compositions, Jost has pictures and associations with true incidents, films and novels in his mind. What inspired him to write this piece was Joseph Conrad's novel 'Heart of Darkness' in which the protagonist Marlow says about the city of Brussels: 'In a few hours I arrived in a city that always make me think of a whited sepulchre.' In 'Sepulchral City', a work commissioned to mark the tenth anniversary of the Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival, however, the title refers to Jerusalem, the city of white tombs. The topic of Jost's trio is a travel into the soul and living spirit of a city, with no physical movement being needed to find the heart of impenetrable darkness: It lies within the city walls. In this respect, 'Sepulchral City' equals a compositionally unfolded funeral bell. Even the animated middle section rather has insisting than progressive power. At the end, the only thing to do is to inhale and exhale./ Répertoire / Clarinette en Bb, Violoncelle et Piano

Par FEASTER HALLEY. New cello students nearly always start in first position aided by finger tapes or guides for accurate finger placement. As they advance, they are expected to learn to shift out of first position, but the focus is on the movement of the shift rather than on note locations or pitch accuracy.In this book, author and versatile cellist Halley Feaster introduces a step-by-step approach to understanding each position, leading to thorough comprehension of the cello fingerboard and a more confident and well-rounded player.Together with its engaging video component, Cello Position Handbook shows advanced beginners and intermediate students what notes are available in each of 12 positions. Short exercises and excerpts are provided for practice in each location, ultimately enabling fluid performance without excessive shifting.On completion of this volume, students will be familiar with what notes are available in each position and be able to move comfortably between them while expanding their repertoires. Includes access to online video. / Date parution : 2022-06-08/ Etude / Violoncelle

A collection of very short tunes written by Sheila Nelson. Initially notated with numbers (fingering) rather than notes and then later written in staves.

Op. 109. Par MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY FELIX. This standard work of the cello literature has been extracted from volume II of the Complete Works for Violoncello and Pianoforte (BA 9096 and BA 9097) which was published in 2016. Mendelssohn scholar R. Larry Todd edited the scholarly-critical edition of ?Song without Words?. This work is not based on the surviving autograph manuscript, which could not have been the basis for the posthumous first edition, but rather on the only plausible source: the German first edition itself. This was published in 1868 as op. 109 and is unquestionably based on an untraceable complete final manuscript, perhaps once previously owned by the dedicatee, French cellist Lisa Barbier Cristiani. The publication is free from editorial amendments and modern performance instructions and provides an excellent basis for musical interpretation./ Répertoire / Violoncelle et Piano

from Children's Corner. Par BIRTEL WOLFGANG. The famous Golliwogg’s Cakewalk is the final piece from Debussy's cycle Children’s Corner which consists of 6 miniatures for piano, written for his daughter in the years 1906-1908. The style corresponds to that of ragtime, a dance which was in vogue around the turn of the century. In the middle section, he parodies several times the beginning of the opera Tristan and Isolde by Richard Wagner with whom Debussy had a rather ambiguous relationship. The present arrangement now allows musicians to play the popular movement in a version for piano trio./ Répertoire / Trio avec Piano

Par SCHUBERT FRANZ. Octet in F major Op. post. 166 D 803 for Clarinet (in B-flat), Bassoon, Horn, Violin (2), Viola, Violincello, Double Bass “I have done little new by way of lieder. In compensation I have tried my hand at several instrumental things, for I have composed two quartets for Violins, Viola and Violincello [A minor, D 804; D minor, D 810] and an octet [F major, D 803] and will write yet another quartet [not carried out]. Indeed, in this way I hope to prepare the way to the full-scale symphony. The latest news in Vienna is that Beethoven will give a concert [on 7 May 1824] . . . I too am inclined to give a similar concert next Year, God willing. ” Thus Schubert, writing on 31 March 1824 to his friend Leopold Kupelwieser in Rome, in a lengthy letter whose first section is decidedly low-spirited. In order to prepare the way to the full-scale symphony – by which he doubtless meant the genre as a whole rather than any specific work – he wrote string quartets and a large-scale piece of chamber music for strings and winds, taking Beethoven as his guide. Urtext of the New Schubert Edition Parts (BA5617) and study score format 22. 5 x 16. 5cm (TP302) available for sale/ Répertoire / Clarinette, Basson, Cor, 2 Violons, Viole, Violonc

This four-movement work represents the composer's desire 'to write a piece of real chamber music intimate and conversational in tone drawing the listener into its worlds'. The result he writes 'is a rather inward-looking reflective work not without a capricious aspect but only occasionally raising its voice.'

Par KREISLER FRITZ. Apart from the collection of Classical Manuscripts composed by the violin virtuoso Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) which he had passed off as transcriptions of settings of old masters, the violinist published original works early on as well. Kreisler himself liked to play them as encore pieces, thus sweetening many a concert with this 'musical confectionery'. Famous tunes are, for example, Liebesfreud, Liebesleid and Schön Rosmarin, his old Viennese dance tunes, in which Kreisler evoked the coffee-house atmosphere of his home town with beautiful melodies and mellifluous harmonies. Another wonderful example is his Marche miniature viennoise, with its humorous theme and a rather march-like middle section - and everywhere, Kreisler takes the audience by surprise with a little Viennese snide humour. Kreisler's original compositions are lovely miniatures, lively and catchy, even with a touch of melancholy - yet full of charm and elegance. Arranged for string trio, they are enjoyable to play and worth listening to and a valuable addition to the repertoire - ideal for sociable music-making or as pieces to end a 'serious' concert./ Répertoire / Trio à Cordes