Par BACEWICZ GRAZYNA. Studying the sketches for works which a composer considers to be finished, perfected, is a fascinating activity. It enables one to penetrate the secrets of creative work, to compare the initial outline of a composition with its final version. A sketch is generally left untitled, but it does occur that a composer enhances the status of such a draft by giving it a title, before creating an improved version of that title on the basis of the finished work. The list of compositions by Grazyna Bacewicz, the full catalogue of which is held in the National Library in Warsaw, includes a work for string quartet entitled Quatuor. The manuscript was left undated, but analysis of the music allows us to date this work to the mid-1960s. In the composer?s output from that period, the instrumental tone colouring, often an element that helps to forge a work, takes on particular significance. The first movement of the Quatuor [à cordes] opens with three fifth-tritone chords ?cast forth?, in succession, in saltando-gettato technique by the cello, second violin and first violin. When we look at the beginning of the Seventh String Quartet, from 1965, such a chord appears in the second bar of the cello part. Further comparisons lead to interesting conclusions. The two opening movements are almost identical, built from the same elements, only spatially arranged in a different way. In the structure of the first movement of the Seventh Quartet, one distinguishes two thematic planes, which shape the narrative after the fashion of a sonata allegro. The first theme is a series of episodes of changing texture ? from passagework to chords and short glissandos repeated with varying intensity. The second theme (Meno mosso) displays an imitative form. Both works feature an inverted reprise. For the first 25 bars of the second movement, a nostalgic Grave, the two works sound identical. The continuation of this movement in the Quatuor [à cordes] is more modest than in the analogous segments of the Seventh Quartet, in terms of both changing textures and the use of differentiated means of articulation. Towards the end, a motif from the beginning of this movement returns in modified form. Both the third movements (Capriccioso in the Quatuor [à cordes], Con vivezza in the Seventh Quartet) take the form of a rondo, and appearing in each of them is the same ?warbling? theme, based on scattered notes with grace notes. The Seventh String Quartet is in three movements. The presumed prototype consists of four movements. The last movement of the Quatuor [à cordes] is a Maestoso resembling a mine of textural ideas for other works of a sonoristic provenance from this period. The introduction, constituting a closed narrative whole and a reference point for the rest of the movement, is followed by segments that are dominated by ostinatos of various kinds, including with the use of harmonics, passages built on the progressive shifting of short motifs, and unevenly spread chords. Grazyna Bacewicz used material from earlier works more than once in her compositions. Her oeuvre also includes ?twin? pieces merely scored for a different set of instruments. Yet the self-quotation that occurs in the case of the Quatuor [à cordes] and the Seventh String Quartet ? lengthy passages from another of her works reused with minor modifications ? is an unusual situation. It undermines the former?s status as an independent work. Malgorzata Gasiorowska/ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

Par LIEBMAN DAVID. Atonement commemorates the holiest day of the year in the Jewish faith, called Yom Kippur. On that day an individual repents for transgressions which may have occurred during the past year. Fasting and prayer are the activities which begin at sundown with the chanting of Kol Nidre and end twenty four hours later. I wrote the melodies for this piece on Yom Kippur, 1979. Part of the piece quotes the beginning strains of Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem. It is adaptable to any solo instrument. Solo parts are included for C concert, Bb, Eb and bass clef instruments. Recorded on 'Classique”./ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes et Instrument Solo

in E flat major. Par STEFANI JAN. Composition was completed at the beginning of 1825, in stylistic terms it falls between Classicism and Romanticism. The straddling of stylistic epochs is evident in the four-movement design of the quartet, which refers do Classical solutions established during the previous centrury also in other genres. Nethertheles, it is worth drawing attention to the third movement, the minuet, which represented something of a testing ground for contrasting tradition with progress, history with the present, and formal with frivolous, which these popular dances may have symbolised. Stylistic hanges heading towards Romanticism are evident also in the way the work's melodic layer is organise. The Józef Stefani's advanced compositional skills prove his crucial contribution to the evolution of the string quartet on Polish soil. And the catchy melodic phases - for which Stefani ceirtanly had a gift - will stir the emotions of a many listener. / Date parution : 2023-06-01/ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

Par SCHLEE THOMAS DANIEL. For composer Thomas Daniel Schlee, the 'intimate sound possibilities of the string quartet” have the potential 'to formulate an, albeit 'only' individual, solution to the somewhat forlorn condition of new art music within society that we are unfortunately experiencing today.” Schlee's Fourth String Quartet opens with a pure C major sound, out of which he develops a harmonically free band of voices: 'The pure as a source, not pleasing”! After a melodically dominating episode and a continuation of the 'swinging tone-motion from the beginning”, a thematically solidified section follows. It is met by a second, more extensive melodic episode, followed by a 'nightly scene”. Coming full circle, the opening music of the piece finds its continuation, leading into a lament – first articulated by the ensemble, then finally as 'the viola's long, forlorn search for the melody symbolizing a farewell.”/ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

The quartet in a minor is one of the chamber music works with which Schubert wanted to 'pave the way to the great symphony? in spring 1824. At the same time he was paving his way to a wider audience, as the 'Rosamunde? Quartet was the first and only string quartet that was not only publicly performed in Schubert's lifetime but also published in parts. It is fortunate for us that this was the case because the autograph of this much-loved quartet is missing today and the only source for the work is the first edition. And this is precisely where the challenge lies, as the parts exhibit some inaccuracies regarding the articulation and dynamics. They have had to be carefully resolved, something which our new Urtext edition has done in an exemplary fashion. Its name can be traced back to Schubert's incidental music to the play Rosamunde, which can be heard at the beginning of the Andante. Quite a few people might, however, be reminded of the Impromptu in B flat major op. post. 142 #3, in which Schubert later once again took up the beautiful melody. / Quatuor A Cordes