SKU: BR.KM-266

The Breitkopf Originals serie s opens up a fascinating view into the Breitkopf & Hartel publishing-house archives. The focus is on its rarities and treasures, together with milestones in the history of interpretation for works of the. Classical; Romantic. Score. 224 pages. Breitkopf and Haertel #KM 266. Published by Breitkopf and Haertel (BR.KM-266).

ISBN 9790004504901. 10 x 12.5 inches.

The editor, Engelbert Rontgen, writes in his foreword:Following a commission by the gentlemen Breitkopf & Hartel in Leipzig to produce a complete edition of Beethoven's string quartets supplied with bowing marks and fingerings, I undertook this task on the basis of the critical complete edition of these quartets, published in 1862. First of all, it seemed necessary to change the original slurring in some places to suit the bowing technique, with regard to performing and expression.In the quartets from Beethoven's early period, the performing marks often lack the accuracy and completeness that is required for an exact interplay, whereas they are given in the quartets of his later period almost everywhere with the greatest detail and precision, . Furthermore, the before mentioned scores contain a number of mistakes, which in all likelihood may have crept into the manuscripts as writing mistakes.I have therefore endeavored to carefully add the missing performing marks, as well as to correct the incorrect notes, without, however, claiming to have done everything that is questionable.Breitkopf Originals invite you to take a fresh look at 19th-century reception history.The music is printed clearly and in a larger than usual size.(Rebekah Smith, AUSTA Stringendo)

The Breitkopf Originals series opens up a fascinating view into the Breitkopf & Hartel publishing-house archives. The focus is on its rarities and treasures, together with milestones in the history of interpretation for works of the Classical and Romantic repertoire, presented by the most prominent artists of their time.

SKU: PR.114406980

UPC: 680160010806.

Shula mit Ran’s second string quartet, subtitled “Vistas,” occupies a large canvas that is cast in a traditional fourmovement mold, where the outer movements present, explore, and later return to the work’s principal musical materials, surrounding a slow movement and scherzo-type third movement with a trio. In addition to tempo-based titles, the individual movements have subtitles that are evocative of each movement’s character, as follows: I. Concentric: from the inside out II. Stasis III. Flashes IV. Vistas.
My second string quartet, “Vistas”, is a work cast in a traditional four-movement formal mold, with the outer movements, presenting and later returning to the work’s principal musical materials, surrounding a slow movement and a scherzo-type third movement.While the four movements’ “proper” names -- Maestoso con forza, Lento, Scherzo impetuoso, and Introduzione; Maestoso e grande – give some indication of the general character of the individual movements, I have also subtitled, less formally, each movement as follows:  1) Concentric:  from the inside out  2)  Stasis  3) Flashes  4) Vista.  The images evoked by these titles tell one, I think, a bit more about the inner workings of the quartet.In the first movement, a prominently presented opening pitch (E) reveals itself, as the movement unfolds, to be a center of gravity from which ever-growing cycles of activity gradually evolve.  While various important themes come into being as the movement progresses, their impact on the listener has, I believe, a great deal to do with their juxtaposition and relationship to the initial central point of gravity.Stasis is, as the name implies, a movement where activity seems, at times, almost suspended.  Being also, as Webster’s Dictionary reminds us, “a state of static balance and equilibrium among opposing tendencies or forces,” it develops various materials, including ones from the first movement, without bringing them to points of resolution.Flashes is short and very fast, evoking in my mind the quick shimmer of fireflies, a “sudden burst of light”, but also a “brief time”.  Perhaps, even, a “smile”?Final ly, the last movement, Vista, is not only “a view or outlook”, but also “a comprehensive mental view of a series of remembered or anticipated events.”  After a brief recall of the opening of the second movement, this movement brings back all the important themes of the first movement in their original order.  But just as going back can never really mean going back in time, the movement is much more than recapitulatory.  By cutting through previously transitory passages and presenting the main ideas in a fashion more direct yet more evolved, it also sheds new light on earlier events, offering a retrospective, synoptic view of the first movement as it brings to culmination the work as a whole. “Vistasâ € was commissioned by C. Geraldine Freund for the Taneyev String Quartet of what was then Leningrad.  It was the first commission given in this country to a Soviet chamber ensemble since the 1985 cultural exchange accord between the Soviet Union and the United States.

SKU: HL.49043938

ISBN 9790220133923. 9.25x12.0x0.494 inches.

The 3rd String Quartet was originally composed in 1982-3 to a commission from The Adelaide Festival, and premiered by The Petra Quartet in 1983. Subsequent to this quartet, I have composed two more; No. 4 in 1986 and No. 5 in 2002.The offer to re-publish this work, led me to begin by a process of amendment, but ended in the composition of a virtually new quartet! Only parts of the original quartet have been retained. I also chose to 'frame' (in my case this means an inspirational focus and filter), the quartet in a new way too.In Flight Music keeps the 4-movement format of the original quartet, but is now directly linked to a life-long interest in flight. The first two movements are concerned with aspects of humans in flight, whilst the last two deal with insects and birds respectively.Since all my music is these days preceded by visualisations in the form of drawings, wherever possible, this quartet might be performed with the four drawings, one for each movement, back-projected behind the players.Digital copies of these drawings may be obtained from Schott Music.Edward Cowie.Maurens. France. August, 2010.

SKU: PR.114414200

ISBN 9781491111284. UPC: 680160594719. 9x12 inches.

Composed for violinist Baird Dodge, James Matheson's SPIN is a three-movement study in various meanings of the word spin. I. Gyre has the character of a whimsically spinning object in a sort of arena. II. Web is essentially a slow movement. It explores a nearly static, sinewy texture comprised of slowly undulating chords in which snippets of melody emerge from the notes held while the chords disappear. Similar to the first movement, III. Spiral explores a kinetic notion of spinning, this time in the form of rapidly rising scales.
SPIN was composed in early 1998. Each of the work’s three movements assumes the task of exploring a different meaning of the title.The first movement, Gyre (as in gyroscope), has the character of a whimsically spinning object in a sort of arena – spinning and bouncing off the walls (like a spinning penny, which bounces off of an object unpredictably and with somewhat explosive force). The primary musical idea consists of high harmonics in the violins set against a rocking pulse in the lower strings. This basic texture is explored in various guises as the movement progresses.Web is essentially a slow movement. It explores a nearly static, sinewy texture comprised of slowly undulating chords. Snippets of melody emerge from the notes held while the chords disappear. The music intensifies, leading to an expected climax (or anti-climax) of pizzicatos, before returning to the opening material and winding gently to a close.Like Gyre, the third movement, Spiral, explores a kinetic notion of spinning, this time in the form of rapidly rising scales. The formal idea of this movement, however, has the character of a spiral, with its tendency toward implosion.SPIN was written for violinist Baird Dodge.