Sechs Concertos and six Sonatas for strings. Can be perfomed by one or several players from each string instrument. Continuo realization: Wolf Hobohm. Composed by Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767). Edited by Ute Poetzsch. This edition: Edition of selected works, Urtext edition. Linen. Telemann Musical Works. Volume 28. Score, anthology. Baerenreiter Verlag #BA05309- 01. Published by Baerenreiter Verlag

String Quartet - difficult

SKU: HL.49008206

Score and Parts. Composed by Peteris Vasks. This edition: Saddle stitching. Sheet music. Edition Schott. Classical. Score and Parts. Composed 1977/1997. 86 pages. Duration 15'. Schott Music #ED 8899. Published by Schott Music (HL.49008206).

ISBN 9790001124003. UPC: 073999655742. 9.0x12.0x0.34 inches.

With serious string players this Latvian composer has long been recognized because of his sonorous tonal concepts and his modal, occasionally aleatoric idiom. Works like 'Cantabile per Archi' or 'Musica dolorosa' are already quite well-known, but newer pieces like the violin concerto with string orchestra 'Fernes Licht', commissioned by Gidon Kremer for his Kremerata Baltica, are also gaining wide international exposure. The genre of the string quartet is well represented in Vasks' output. The 2nd string quartet 'Summer Tunes' (ED 8512) has been published for some time and the 3rd was premiered by the Kronos Quartet who were so enthused that they commissioned a 4th quartet. In 1996, prompted by a complete recording of all his string quartets by the Miami String Quartet for Conifer Records Vasks totally revised his early 1st string quartet 1996, it is here presented for the first time in a printed edition.

Chamber Music String Quartet

SKU: PR.14440265S

Composed by Sydney F. Hodkinson. Large Score. With Standard notation. Duration 25 minutes. Merion Music #144-40265S. Published by Merion Music (PR.14440265S).

UPC: 680160027910.

The Second and Third Quartets were conceived at the same time; indeed, their composition intermingled, over half of No. 3 being sketched before No. 2 was completed. Accordingly, they share similar material but, like the intertwining blood of cousins, their natures differ: No. 2 being somewhat acerbic and declamatory, No. 3 more lyric and gentler. An annunicatory 'leaping motive' (derived from a motto generated by my name) opens Quartet No. 2 and inhabits the course of the piece as a cyclical binding-force. A five-note motive, usually very deliberate, also keeps recurring like an insistent caller. All three movements are based on tonal centers (I on B and E, II on D, III on C) and the harmonic 'grammar' spoken tends to recall the jazz world of my youth. To hopefully achieve a certain classical ambience was one of the goals of this piece, and all three movements have traditional forms. The first movement is a modified Sonata-Allegro design, with a severely-truncated recapitulation balanced by a lengthy, and decaying Coda. The second movement is a set of strophic variants and an epilogue interspersed with both solo ritornelli and first-movement material (the motto and the five-note motive) in the nature of a fantasia-like 'call-and-response.' It is dedicated to the memory of the American mezzo-soprano Jan DeGaetani. The third movement is a modified Rondo (ABACBA) which evolves out of the opening motto. All three movements make much use of canonic stretti, similar gestures, and repetition. For example, the climax of movement III's Rondo throws the first movement back at us again, as if the players were reluctant to let it go, so that the entire piece could perhaps be viewed as a single large, extended, Sonata movement, with introduction and Coda.
The Second and Third Quartets were conceived at the same time; indeed, their composition intermingled, over half of No. 3 being sketched before No. 2 was completed.  Accordingly, they share similar material but, like the intertwining blood of cousins, their natures differ: No. 2 being somewhat acerbic and declamatory, No. 3 more lyric and gentler.An annunicatory ‘leaping motive’ (derived from a motto generated by my name) opens Quartet No. 2 and inhabits the course of the piece as a cyclical binding-force.  A five-note motive, usually very deliberate, also keeps recurring like an insistent caller.  All three movements are based on tonal centers (I on B and E, II on D, III on C) and the harmonic ‘grammar’ spoken tends to recall the jazz world of my youth.To hopefully achieve a certain classical ambience was one of the goals of this piece, and all three movements have traditional forms.  The first movement is a modified Sonata-Allegro design, with a severely-truncated recapitulation balanced by a lengthy, and decaying Coda.  The second movement is a set of strophic variants and an epilogue interspersed with both solo ritornelli and first-movement material (the motto and the five-note motive) in the nature of a fantasia-like ‘call-and-response. ’  It is dedicated to the memory of the American mezzo-soprano Jan DeGaetani.  The third movement is a modified Rondo (ABACBA) which evolves out of the opening motto.All three movements make much use of canonic stretti, similar gestures, and repetition.  For example, the climax of movement III’s Rondo throws the first movement back at us again, as if the players were reluctant to let it go, so that the entire piece could perhaps be viewed as a single large, extended, Sonata movement, with introduction and Coda.

2 violins, viola, violoncello

SKU: FG.55011-878-2

Composed by Kalevi Aho. Classical, contemporary, folk. Score & parts. Fennica Gehrman #55011-878-2. Published by Fennica Gehrman (FG.55011-878-2).

Lasting 27 minutes, Kalevi Aho’s String quartet no. 4 (2021) is in four movements. The first, Nocturne, begins with a hazily muted melody dominated by the interval of a minor third on the second violin. Though the first movement begins in nocturnal mood, there is also some more forceful music around the middle. The second movement, Allegro capriccioso, is quick with quirky rhythms. At times tempestuous, it faces the players with the biggest technical and virtuoso challenges. The following Largo is slow. A couple of times in the first half it is dominated by soft, mysterious harmonies. The tempo marking of the virtuosic closing movement is Presto, leggiore. The movement begins with quick, flickering, will-o’-the-wisp-l ike music. It later builds up to an extremely violent climax dominated by tremolo figures on the second violin and thick chords on the other instruments. The flickering music of the beginning returns at the end, before dissolving into silence.

This product includes the full score (A4) and the parts (B4).

Chamber Music String Quartet

SKU: PR.UE036720

Composed by Aleksey Igudesman. Contemporary. Full score. With Standard notation. 28 pages. Universal Edition #UE036720. Published by Universal Edition (PR.UE036720).

ISBN 9783702473631. UPC: 803452070757.

Igude sman's entry in the genre of serious string quartet music is a joyful, exciting three-movement set. The music is driving, rhythmic, absorbed, requiring full focus of all four players. A touring and recording artist on the violin, Igudesman naturally imparts the most beautiful lines to his own instrument, but doesn't neglect the other performers, each of whom has a turn in the spotlight.

Chamber Music String Quartet

SKU: PR.UE036721

Composed by Aleksey Igudesman. Contemporary. Set of parts. With Standard notation. 48 pages. Universal Edition #UE036721. Published by Universal Edition (PR.UE036721).

ISBN 9783702473648. UPC: 803452070764.

Igude sman's entry in the genre of serious string quartet music is a joyful, exciting three-movement set. The music is driving, rhythmic, absorbed, requiring full focus of all four players. A touring and recording artist on the violin, Igudesman naturally imparts the most beautiful lines to his own instrument, but doesn't neglect the other performers, each of whom has a turn in the spotlight.

String Quartet (Score & Parts)

SKU: HL.14043527

String Quartet. Composed by Richard Reed Parry. Music Sales America. Classical, Contemporary. Book [Softcover]. Composed 2015. 12 pages. Chester Music #CH83149. Published by Chester Music (HL.14043527).

9.25x12.0x0.091 inches. English.

Richard Reed Parry 's Quartet For Heart And Breath is an innovative and original piece based on the performers' own bodily rhythms. This sheet music is for String Quartet (Violin/Violin/Viola/Cell o). Richard Reed Parry is familiarto millions as the lead singer of rock band Arcade Fire, yet his foray into classical music is equally worthy of attention. Quartet For Heart And Breath is an experiment into using the performers' heartbeats and breathing to dictate the tempo. The performers are instructed to wear stethoscopes in order to listen to their heartbeats closely, while one complete breath corresponds to one bar and two heartbeats equal two crotchets. The result is a quiet and subtle piece, as each instrument has to play softly so as to be able to keep in time. The piece also has a naturally occurring dynamism in that the players' heart rates constantly change as the performance goes on, with each instrument falling in and out of sync sometimes culminating in a beautiful moment of all heartbeats matching each other. Interestingly, this unique aspect means that no performance will ever be the same, meaning to hear or play this composition will be a truly once in a lifetime experience. Quartet For Heart And Breath is a superbly one-of-a-kind composition by Richard Reed Parry . Commissioned by the Kronos Quartet, this piece makes for a wonderfully distinctive performance, with fascinating implications for the connection between the music and the body.

Chamber Music String Quartet

SKU: PR.144401000

Composed by George Perle. Spiral. Premiere: Forum Group of the International Society for Contemporary Music, in New York City. Contemporary. Score. With Standard notation. Composed 1946-1948. Opus 21. Theodore Presser Company #144-40100. Published by Theodore Presser Company (PR.144401000).

UPC: 680160025589. 11 x 8.5 inches.

George Perle, now an instructor at the University of Louisville, was born in 1915, in Bayonne, New Jersey. He began work on the Third String Quartet in 1946 in Japan and completed it the following year in New York City. It was presented for the first time at a concert of the Forum Group of the International Society for Contemporary Music, in New York City on Feb. 7, 1948. The work is based on the following twelve-tone series, and its permutations and transpositions: d; e-flat; a-flat; b; c; f-sharp; c-sharp; f-natural; g; a; e; b-flat. The score is arranged in the present publication in such a way as to render unnecessary the extraction of parts for performance. Each player may read his part directly from a copy of the score.