Par BACEWICZ GRAZYNA. Grazyna Bacewicz realised at a very early age that her main purpose in life was to compose music. Already during the 1920s, as a student of Lódz Conservatoire, as part of her lessons in harmony and counterpoint, she made attempts at composing, in which she tried to resolve nagging technical problems and impart an artistically satisfying form to them. She grew up in an atmosphere of anti-romantic tumult and the emerging neoclassical style. She assimilated the main attributes of that current in a natural way: the need to forge logical formal constructs based on new harmonic principles, not determined by the major–minor system, and also a freedom in the shaping of textures, a fixed element of which was the combining of homophony with more or less strict polyphonic forms. One example of such a strategy is the String Quartet from her student years, signed with the date 1929–1930, which the composer did not include in her official catalogue of works. In the first movement (Allegro moderato), one can distinguish two principal subjects, served in the form of the incomplete exposition of a fugue. The chromaticised first subject, with its strongly highlighted head motif, appears in the cello, with an answer coming four bars later in the first violin. After a short bridge, the first violin intones the second subject, of a different character (dolce), and the answer appears a bar later and an octave lower in the viola. Both subjects can be heard also in the closing coda, and the space between them is filled by counterpoints based largely on ostinato figures of various sorts – a technique that Bacewicz would hone to perfection in her later work. The middle fughetta (Molto adagio), with a subject stated just once, and in only three parts (cello, first violin, viola), acts as an intermezzo. The third movement (Allegro molto moderato) is a double fugue with strongly contrasting subjects. The first subject, in the form of a chromaticised melodic continuum, exposed by the cello, is initially shown with the traditional arrangement retained (answered by the viola and second violin at a fifth, and by the first violin an octave above). The second subject (energico) is a structure shaped by the opening repetition of a motif of perfect fifths, then octaves combined with staccato-tremolo figurations. As the work unfolds, the two subjects appear simultaneously in original and inverted form, coming together in the closing Cadenza in a uniform idea crowned by strong (fff) chords repeated towards the end. - Malgorzata Gasiorowska/ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

Par PROBST TATIANA. Commissioned by Claude Desmarets, this string quartet was written at Fontevraud Abbey in 2016 as part of a composer's residence organized by the association 'Foyer Joy-eux' which is devoted to perpetuating the memory of pianist Geneviève Joy and composer Henri Dutilleux. 'Ainsi un nouveau jour' is an imaginary continuation of Dutilleux's legendary quartet 'Ainsi la nuit' created around short texts evoking different mythological figures. The work is dedicated to the Rosamonde Quartet. / Date parution : 2022-02-03/ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

Par DAVIES PETER MAXWELL. Peter Maxwell Davies spent a day at a gynaecological clinic in London at the invitation of Professor Ian Craft, who commissioned the piece in memory of his father. During his time there he met many people and shared in some of the deep emotions they experienced. Artemis Locheia is the Greek Godess of Fertility. In this one movement, 25 minute work, the joy and exuberance experienced by couples when pregnancy is confirmed is captured. There are many tempo changes and two extended cadenzas for the clarinet. The work was premiered by Dmitri Ashkenazy and the Brodsky Quartet./ Répertoire / Clarinette et Quatuor à Cordes

Instrumental Play-Along for Viola. Cette compilation de 15 classiques du rock va combler les instrumentistes solos ! Les démonstrations et les accompagnements sont disponibles pour chaque morceau, afin de s'entraîner mais aussi de s'accompagner pour le plaisir. Parmi les chansons : Don't Fear the Reaper, Fortunate Son, Free Fallin', Go Your Own Way, Jack and Diane, Money, Old Time Rock and Roll, Sweet Home Alabama, 25 or 6 to 4, et plus./ Recueil / Alto