Note by the composer:'Triple Quartet is for string quartet and two pre-recorded quartets, or three live string quartets with no pre-recording. The piece is in three movements, fast-slow-fast, and is organized harmonically on four dominant chords in minor keys a minor third apart: E minor, G minor, Bb minor, C# minor and then returning to E minor to form a cycle.The first movement goes through this harmonic cycle twice with a section about one minute long on each of the four dominat chords. The result is a kind of variation form. Rhythmically the first movement has the second and third quartet playing interlocking chords while the first quartet plays longer melodies in canon between the first violin and viola against the second violin and cello. The slow movement is more completely contrapuntal with a long slow melody in canon eventually in all 12 voices. It stays in E minor throughout. The third movement resumes the original fast tempo, maintains the harmonic chord cycle but modulates back and forth between keys more rapidly. The final section of the movement is in the initial key of E minor and there the piece finally cadences.? Steve Reich, 1999 / Orchestre A Cordes

A favorite if there ever was one, this melody is perfect for first position playing. All instruments first play the melody in its entirety, followed by a section harmonized in the style of Beethoven. (1:30) / Orchestre A Cordes

Par STILES SARAH. Impro, an exciting new introduction to improvisation in string playing, is suited to absolute beginners as well as more advanced players. It can be combined with regular teaching methods or used as a source of relaxation and fun in lessons, and all the material is interchangeable between violin, viola, cello and double bass. The skills of free improvisation are built up in stages, using basic ideas and progressing to more complex patterns. There are guidelines all the way, plus duets with improvisation for teacher and pupil - and any other string players wishing to enjoy this lively and original style of music-making! A teacher working in Holland, Sarah Stiles leadsworkshops in her method of Free Improvisation, and is also the composer of the unique Dual Band, nine violin duos with improvisation./ Répertoire / Orchestre à Cordes

In this sunny, playful piece, the notes and rhythms are basic, but there are great counting challenges and a minor key middle section that offers a nice contrast. Young players will find this accessible and look forward to playing the joyful melodies and sparkling accompaniments again and again. (2:00) / Orchestre A Cordes

A joyful departure from tradition, now set in 4/4 time by Jeffrey Turner, this fresh setting of the beloved carol is sure to add sparkle to any holiday celebration. Across the silent night, the blazing star of a solo cello beacons. A violinist follows, and the glory of a string orchestra suddenly bursts across the heavens. A twinkling piano announces that a child has been born unto the world - then, the high strings enter like angels singing from above. With its ending in 3/4, sure to put a smile on everyone's face, there's never been a happier birthday. (3:20) / Orchestre A Cordes

Explore the hidden dimensions of spacetime and string theory with multiple meters! Great for a cross-curricular experience with the science class. There is a string theory in physics named M-Theory that suggests spacetime contains eleven dimensions. Most of these dimensions are compacted, hidden, and undetectable by human experiments. Composer Michael Hopkins creates a musical exploration of these hidden dimensions---a journey through spacetime! Through the use of multiple meters, the phrases are of lengths that represent all the different dimensions. / Orchestre A Cordes

Par PART ARVO. This piece is Pärt's tribute to Benjamin Britten who died in 1976. Arvo Pärt: In the past years we have had many losses in the world of music to mourn. Why did the date of Benjamin Britten's death - 4 December 1976 - touch such a chord in me? During this time I was obviously at the point where I could recognize the magnitude of such a loss. Inexplicable feelings of guilt, more than that even, arose in me. I had just discovered Britten for myself. Just before his death I began to appreciate the unusual purity of his music - I had had the impression of the same kind of purity in the ballads of Guillaume de Machaut. And besides, for a long time I had wanted to meet Britten personally - and now it would not come to that. 'The last chord of Cantus is seemingly never-ending. It just stands there, neither growing nor decaying. Something has been achieved and it shouldn't be given up. The content of the whole work leads up to this point.' Nora Pärt/ Répertoire / Orchestre à Cordes et Cloche

for String Orchestra Score and Parts. Par SIBELIUS JEAN / LATHAM LYNNE (Arr.). This arrangement keeps the dramatic character of the original, but in changing the key to D minor, avoids some of the messy chromaticism. The introduction features the low strings and there are moments for just the 1st 2 desks to shine. This rousing work will most certainly enhance the tone production of your group!/ Répertoire / Orchestre à Cordes

Par VAUGHAN WILLIAMS RALPH. Of all his early chamber works, the Nocturne is most clearly by the mature Vaughan Williams, almost anticipating the influence of Ravel which followed his lessons from the French composer in 1908. In the veiled beauty of its highly chromatic harmonies we hear already the tone-poet of the slow movement of A London Symphony , while in the fleet-footed Scherzo there is already a French influence in the way the folk-song is subtly woven into the texture, only brief snatches of the tune being heard until the penultimate page when it receives fuller treatment. The work plays for about 10 minutes. The 1904 Scherzo is a vigorous march with fugal episodes which lasts some 6 minutes and may effectively be performed by itself. / Niveau : Elémentaire / Répertoire / Quintette à Cordes

This Simple Symphony is entirely based on material from works which the composer wrote between the ages of nine and twelve. (The actual sources are given in footnotes to each movement.) Although the development of these themes is in many places quite new, there are large stretches of the work which are taken bodily from the early pieces - save for the re-scoring for strings. It is suitable for string quartets or string orchestras, being scored for Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello and Double Bass.