Cassatt. Composed
by Dan Welcher. Premiere:
Cassatt Quartet,
Northeastern Illinois
University, Chicago, IL.
Contemporary. Full score.
With Standard notation.
Composed 2007. WRT11142.
52 pages. Duration 24
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #164-00272S.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.16400272S).
UPC:
680160588442. 8.5 x 11
inches.
My third
quartet is laid out in a
three-movement structure,
with each movement based
on an early, middle, and
late work of the great
American impressionist
painter Mary Cassatt.
Although the movements
are separate, with
full-stop endings, the
music is connected by a
common scale-form,
derived from the name
MARY CASSATT, and by a
recurring theme that
introduces all three
movements. I see this
theme as Mary's Theme, a
personality that stays
intact while undergoing
gradual change. I
The Bacchante (1876)
[Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania] The
painting shows a young
girl of Italian or
Spanish origin, playing a
small pair of cymbals.
Since Cassatt was trying
very hard to fit in at
the French Academy at the
time, she painted a lot
of these subjects, which
were considered typical
and universal. The style
of the painting doesn't
yet show Cassatt's
originality, except
perhaps for certain
details in the face.
Accordingly the music for
this movement is
Spanish/Italian, in a
similar period-style but
using the musical
signature described
above. The music begins
with Mary's Theme,
ruminative and slow, then
abruptly changes to an
alla Spagnola-type fast
3/4 - 6/8 meter. It
evokes the
Spanish-influenced music
of Ravel and Falla.
Midway through,
there's an accompanied
recitative for the viola,
which figures large in
this particular movement,
then back to a truncated
recapitulation of the
fast music. The overall
feeling is of a
well-made, rather
conventional movement in
a contemporary
Spanish/Italian style.
Cassatt's painting, too,
is rather conventional.
II At the Opera
(1880) [Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston,
Massachusetts]
This painting is one of
Cassatt's most well known
works, and it hangs in
the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston. The painting
shows a woman alone in a
box at the opera house,
completely dressed
(including gloves) and
looking through opera
glasses at someone or
something that is NOT on
the stage. Across the
auditorium from her, but
exactly at eye level, is
a gentleman with opera
glasses intently watching
her - though it is not
him that she's looking
at. It's an intriguing
picture. This
movement is far less
conventional than the
first movement, as the
painting is far less
conventional. The music
begins with a rapid,
Shostakovich-type
mini-overture lasting
less than a minute, based
on Mary's Theme. My
conjecture is that the
woman in the painting has
arrived late to the
opera, busily stumbling
into her box. What
happens next is a kind of
collage, a kind of
surrealistic overlaying
of two different
elements: the foreground
music, at first is a
direct quotation of
Soldier's Chorus from
Gounod's FAUST (an opera
Cassatt would certainly
have heard in the
brand-new Paris Opera
House at that time),
played by Violin II,
Viola, and Cello. This
music is played sul
ponticello in the melody
and col legno in the
marching accompaniment.
On top of this, the first
violin hovers at first on
a high harmonic, then
descends into a slow
melody, completely
separate from the Gounod.
It's as if the woman in
the painting is hearing
the opera onstage but is
not really interested in
it. Then the cello joins
the first violin in a
kind of love-duet (just
the two of them, at
first). This music isn't
at all Gounod-derived;
it's entirely from the
same scale patterns as
the first movement and
derives from Mary's Theme
and its scale. The music
stays in a kind of
dichotomy feeling,
usually
three-against-one, until
the end of the movement,
when another Gounod
melody, Valentin's aria
Avant de quitter ce lieux
reappears in a kind of
coda for all four
players. It ends
atmospherically and
emotionally disconnected,
however. The overall
feeling is a kind of
schizophrenic,
opera-inspired dream.
III Young Woman in
Green, Outdoors in the
Sun (1909) [Worcester Art
Museum, Massachusetts]
The painting, one
of Cassatt's last, is
very simple: just a
figure, looking sideways
out of the picture. The
colors are pastel and yet
bold - and the woman is
likewise very
self-assured and not in
the least demure. It is
eight minutes long, and
is all about melody -
three melodies, to be
exact (Young Woman,
Green, and Sunlight). No
angst, no choppy rhythms,
just ever-unfolding
melody and lush
harmonies. I quote one
other French composer
here, too: Debussy's song
Green, from Ariettes
Oubliees. 1909 would have
been Debussy's heyday in
Paris, and it makes
perfect sense musically
as well as visually to do
this. Mary Cassatt
lived her last several
years in near-total
blindness, and as she
lost visual acuity, her
work became less sharply
defined - something akin
to late water lilies of
Monet, who suffered
similar vision loss. My
idea of making this
movement entirely melodic
was compounded by having
each of the three
melodies appear twice,
once in a pure form, and
the second time in a more
diffuse setting. This
makes an interesting two
ways form:
A-B-C-A1-B1-C1.
String Quartet No.3
(Cassatt) is dedicated,
with great affection and
respect, to the Cassatt
String Quartet, whose
members have dedicated
themselves in large
measure to the furthering
of the contemporary
repertoire for
quartet.
Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: PR.164002720 Cassatt. Composed b...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.164002720
Cassatt. Composed
by Dan Welcher. Spiral
and Saddle. Premiere:
Cassatt Quartet,
Northeastern Illinois
University, Chicago, IL.
Contemporary. Set of
Score and Parts. With
Standard notation.
Composed 2007. WRT11142.
52+16+16+16+16 pages.
Duration 24 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#164-00272. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.164002720).
UPC:
680160573042. 8.5 x 11
inches.
My third
quartet is laid out in a
three-movement structure,
with each movement based
on an early, middle, and
late work of the great
American impressionist
painter Mary Cassatt.
Although the movements
are separate, with
full-stop endings, the
music is connected by a
common scale-form,
derived from the name
MARY CASSATT, and by a
recurring theme that
introduces all three
movements. I see this
theme as Mary's Theme, a
personality that stays
intact while undergoing
gradual change. I
The Bacchante (1876)
[Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania] The
painting shows a young
girl of Italian or
Spanish origin, playing a
small pair of cymbals.
Since Cassatt was trying
very hard to fit in at
the French Academy at the
time, she painted a lot
of these subjects, which
were considered typical
and universal. The style
of the painting doesn't
yet show Cassatt's
originality, except
perhaps for certain
details in the face.
Accordingly the music for
this movement is
Spanish/Italian, in a
similar period-style but
using the musical
signature described
above. The music begins
with Mary's Theme,
ruminative and slow, then
abruptly changes to an
alla Spagnola-type fast
3/4 - 6/8 meter. It
evokes the
Spanish-influenced music
of Ravel and Falla.
Midway through,
there's an accompanied
recitative for the viola,
which figures large in
this particular movement,
then back to a truncated
recapitulation of the
fast music. The overall
feeling is of a
well-made, rather
conventional movement in
a contemporary
Spanish/Italian style.
Cassatt's painting, too,
is rather conventional.
II At the Opera
(1880) [Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston,
Massachusetts]
This painting is one of
Cassatt's most well known
works, and it hangs in
the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston. The painting
shows a woman alone in a
box at the opera house,
completely dressed
(including gloves) and
looking through opera
glasses at someone or
something that is NOT on
the stage. Across the
auditorium from her, but
exactly at eye level, is
a gentleman with opera
glasses intently watching
her - though it is not
him that she's looking
at. It's an intriguing
picture. This
movement is far less
conventional than the
first movement, as the
painting is far less
conventional. The music
begins with a rapid,
Shostakovich-type
mini-overture lasting
less than a minute, based
on Mary's Theme. My
conjecture is that the
woman in the painting has
arrived late to the
opera, busily stumbling
into her box. What
happens next is a kind of
collage, a kind of
surrealistic overlaying
of two different
elements: the foreground
music, at first is a
direct quotation of
Soldier's Chorus from
Gounod's FAUST (an opera
Cassatt would certainly
have heard in the
brand-new Paris Opera
House at that time),
played by Violin II,
Viola, and Cello. This
music is played sul
ponticello in the melody
and col legno in the
marching accompaniment.
On top of this, the first
violin hovers at first on
a high harmonic, then
descends into a slow
melody, completely
separate from the Gounod.
It's as if the woman in
the painting is hearing
the opera onstage but is
not really interested in
it. Then the cello joins
the first violin in a
kind of love-duet (just
the two of them, at
first). This music isn't
at all Gounod-derived;
it's entirely from the
same scale patterns as
the first movement and
derives from Mary's Theme
and its scale. The music
stays in a kind of
dichotomy feeling,
usually
three-against-one, until
the end of the movement,
when another Gounod
melody, Valentin's aria
Avant de quitter ce lieux
reappears in a kind of
coda for all four
players. It ends
atmospherically and
emotionally disconnected,
however. The overall
feeling is a kind of
schizophrenic,
opera-inspired dream.
III Young Woman in
Green, Outdoors in the
Sun (1909) [Worcester Art
Museum, Massachusetts]
The painting, one
of Cassatt's last, is
very simple: just a
figure, looking sideways
out of the picture. The
colors are pastel and yet
bold - and the woman is
likewise very
self-assured and not in
the least demure. It is
eight minutes long, and
is all about melody -
three melodies, to be
exact (Young Woman,
Green, and Sunlight). No
angst, no choppy rhythms,
just ever-unfolding
melody and lush
harmonies. I quote one
other French composer
here, too: Debussy's song
Green, from Ariettes
Oubliees. 1909 would have
been Debussy's heyday in
Paris, and it makes
perfect sense musically
as well as visually to do
this. Mary Cassatt
lived her last several
years in near-total
blindness, and as she
lost visual acuity, her
work became less sharply
defined - something akin
to late water lilies of
Monet, who suffered
similar vision loss. My
idea of making this
movement entirely melodic
was compounded by having
each of the three
melodies appear twice,
once in a pure form, and
the second time in a more
diffuse setting. This
makes an interesting two
ways form:
A-B-C-A1-B1-C1.
String Quartet No.3
(Cassatt) is dedicated,
with great affection and
respect, to the Cassatt
String Quartet, whose
members have dedicated
themselves in large
measure to the furthering
of the contemporary
repertoire for
quartet.
Critical Edition
Hardcover. Composed
by Karol Szymanowski.
PWM. Classical.
Hardcover. 60 pages.
Polskie Wydawnictwo
Muzyczne #9267030.
Published by Polskie
Wydawnictwo Muzyczne
(HL.370494).
ISBN
9781705147009. UPC:
840126994025.
The
First String Quartet in C
major, Op. 37, was
written in the autumn of
1917 and earned
Szymanowski the first
prize in a competition
organized by the Ministry
of Religious and in a
competition organized by
the Ministry of Religious
and Educational Affairs
in January 1922. The
First String Quartet is
notable for its clar and
simple construction. The
first movement is in the
formof a sonata allegro;
the Andantino semplice
(in modo iuna canzone) in
the middle is a cross
between ternary and
variation form. The final
Scherzando alla burlesca
also keeps to the form of
a sonata allegro. The
combinations and
proportions of formal
factors and the treatment
of thematic material
betray a fairly
conventional adoption of
classical models.
Similarly, the expressive
and structural use of
melodic material shows a
respect for traditional
norms. Szymanowski
created, in other works
from the same period, his
own individual type of
melodic line, which was
strongly expressive and
achieved its effect
chiefly by its tonal
qualieties; nevertheless
in this Quartet he
returns to a fluid,
cantilena-like,
symmetrically shaped
melodic line, which runs
along in broad phrases of
a concentrated,
reflective character.
Melody becomes the chief
factor in the development
of the form, both in
thematic usage and in the
application of a more
polyphonic texture.
Harmonic and tonal means
are considerably
simplified in the Quartet
[]. Most of the writing
is linear, or horizontal,
with individual treatment
of each part, the
parallel continuation of
the four sound planes,
almost a matter of
principle. The functions
of the particular
instruments in realizing
these planes are
constantly changing,which
accounts for the even
greater variedy of
tone-colour. The decision
to forego experiment with
forms and sonorities is
reflectedin the overall
approach to musical
expression. The
predominant atmosphere of
restrained emotion, quiet
lyricism and serenity is
strongly suggestive of
classical aestetic
models. (Based on Zofia
Helman Commentary on
Szymanowski Complete
Edition, Vol. B6) (II)
The ''Second String
Quartet'' represents an
interesting attempt to
revert to classical form
coupled with the new
harmonic and tonal
vocabulary worked out
previously in the
''Slopiewnie'', ''Stabat
Mater'' and ''Mazurkas''.
It was also the first
time the composer had
used folk elements in the
framework of a major
classical form. The
''Second String Quartet''
is in a special category
among Szymanowski's
works. Though it dates
from the composer was
still occupied with folk
music, it nevertheless
shows him returning to
classical models, but at
the same time using an
aesthetic of subjective
expression, which gives
the work its own
individual stamp. The
''Second String Quartet''
synthesis of the various
directions in which
Szymanowski was
attempting to develop.
The sonority and texture
used in the first.
Quartet Sant Petersburg Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle Editorial de Musica Boileau
String quartet SKU: BO.B.3664 Composed by Jordi Cervello. Published by Ed...(+)
String quartet
SKU:
BO.B.3664
Composed by
Jordi Cervello. Published
by Editorial de Musica
Boileau (BO.B.3664).
Cuarteto San
Petersburgo (The Saint
Petersburg Quartet) was
written between January
and March 2011. It owes
its name to the fact that
Saint Petersburg has been
a very significant city
for me. I was invited
there in 1988 to take
part in a big
contemporary music
festival, but my
uninterrupted bond with
the city started on 2002,
thanks to the
negotiations of my friend
and pupil Albert Barbeta.
Since then, I have
constantly travelled
there in order to record
a considerable part of my
repertoire: seventeen
pieces. In addition to
the concerts we went to,
I took the opportunity
during my trips to visit
the well-known
conservatoire where so
many great personalities
from the world of music
composition once taught,
and the place that
launched the most
important violin school
in the whole of Russia:
the school of Leopoldo
Auer. Spending a long
time in Auer's classroom
writing my concert for
violin and orchestra was
an unforgettable
experience for me. His
large portrait motivated
me even
further.
Cuartet
o San Petersburgo evokes
many of the most
cherished and moving
moments that I have had
in this city. It is
structured in four
movements. The first one,
Allegretto-Allegro, opens
with an introduction that
sets forth the two main
themes, amid a soft and
elastic atmosphere. The
Allegro starts vigorously
and in it we find changes
in the tempo and moments
of mystery, as well as
certain seclusion,
returning then to the
emphatic theme where the
counterpoint finds its
place. The movement ends
placidly.
The
Scherzo-marcato that
follows is marked by a
persistent rhythm of
triplets that carries on
from beginning to end.
The tempo does not
change, but brief and
decided themes are
introduced, as well as
passages of counterpoint.
Brief and dissonant
chords are heard
throughout the movement,
which ends
vigorously.
The
third movement, Ut, is a
very special one. For a
while already I had been
playing with the idea of
writing a movement that
was to have the tonality
C as a leitmotiv. This
one is made up by two
slow and static parts. In
the first one, the first
violin plays
pizzicatti-glissandi. In
the second, the first
violin and particularly
the violoncello settle on
C while the other two
instruments produce
descending chromatic
harmonies.
Final
ly, the
Introduccion-Presto (the
Introduction-Presto). It
starts with some bucolic
passages which remind us
of the introduction to
the first movement. A
fast and energetic Presto
suddenly erupts. A kind
of moto perpetuo which
alternates with two
expressive passages and,
towards the end, a viola
and violoncello tremolo,
all of great mystery and
expectation, make way for
a resounding finale
marcato.
3rd
string quartet.
Composed by Joerg
Widmann. This edition:
Saddle stitching. Sheet
music. Edition Schott.
Score and parts. Composed
2003. 112 pages. Duration
12'. Schott Music
#ED9749. Published by
Schott Music
(HL.49033270).
ISBN
9790001136860.
9.25x12.0x0.3
inches.
The
Jagdquartett (Hunt
Quartet), which Jorg
Widmann wrote as his
third string quartet in
2003, following the
Choralquartett, also
begins with a visible
gesture. After a short
signal cry from the
performers, the piece
starts by quoting Robert
Schumann's Papillons op.
2, and for its full
duration retains this
gesture, these starting
sounds. The degrees of
recognizability do change
continuously, to be sure,
in the furious, racing
organism of the score.
The contours change into
forms on another level,
yet now and then the
begining material returns
clearly to the fore,
initiated anew by a cry
from the performers, and
is then digested or
mutated as a rhythmic
study into a field of
harmonic experimentation.
On rare occasions, there
are moments of pause - as
though the musicians were
testing the atmosphere,
as though they were
sensing the weather, so
as ultimately to continue
playing the quartet
across the fields an
forests of notes. A hunt
after joyful performance,
a chase, the whip
cracking, after the thing
to be shot, the sound,
its performer, perhaps
the composer himself? - A
last shout, morendo, dal
niente... - The victim is
not the audience, at any
rate.When comparing the
output of string quartets
from the 18th century to
thetime of Schumann, it
appears to have dropped
considerably. Schumann
composed only three
complete quartets, all of
them in the so-called
'chamber music year'
1842. Jorg Widmann, who
counts Robert Schumann
among his greatest
inspirations, finished a
series of five string
quartets in 2005, at the
same age as Schumann. The
quartets in the cycle
form in themselves the
characters of the
movements of the
classical quartet.
Jagdquartett represents
the fast middle movement,
the scherzo. Widmann's
work appears rough and
wild in the style of
Schumann's alter ego
Florestan. His hunt
begins in the tempo of
'allegro vivace assai'
with the final theme of
Schumann's Papillons
which often appears or is
cited in many of
Schumann's compositions.
Widmann eventually
dismantles the thematic
material of his fierce
quartet, thus
skeletonising his
prey.
By Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884). Edited by Milan Pospisil. Study Score. Henle Stu...(+)
By Bedrich Smetana
(1824-1884). Edited by
Milan Pospisil. Study
Score. Henle Study
Scores. Softcover. 64
pages. G. Henle #HN9814.
Published by G. Henle
By Claude Debussy (1862-1918). Edited by Ulrich KrÌ_mer and Ulrich Kr. For Stri...(+)
By Claude Debussy
(1862-1918). Edited by
Ulrich KrÌ_mer and
Ulrich Kr. For String
Quartet (Parts). Henle
Music Folios. G. Henle
#HN999. Published by G.
Henle
String Quartet SKU: BR.DV-4261 Complete Works. Composed by Felix B...(+)
String Quartet
SKU:
BR.DV-4261
Complete Works.
Composed by Felix
Bartholdy Mendelssohn.
Chamber music; Linen.
Deutscher Verlag.
Editorial Board:
Christian Martin Schmidt
(chairman), Peter Ward
Jones, Friedhelm
Krummacher, R. Larry
Todd, Ralf Wehner;
research associates: Ralf
Wehner, Clemens Harasim,
Birgit Muller
Romantic period. Complete
Works. 336 pages.
Deutscher Verlag fur
Musik #DV 4261. Published
by Deutscher Verlag fur
Musik (BR.DV-4261).
ISBN 9790200440119. 9
x 12 inches.
The
Leipziger Ausgabe der
Werke von Felix
Mendelssohn Bartholdy
pursues the goal of
making accessible to the
public in an adequately
scholarly form all of
Mendelssohn's accessible
compositions, letters and
writings, along with all
other documents of his
artistic oeuvre. A
considerable number of
Mendelssohn's works are
still waiting to be
published; many others
have been published in an
unsatisfactory
manner.Though the new
Mendelssohn Complete
Edition follows the ten
volumes of the Leipziger
Mendelssohn Ausgabe (LMA)
published by the
Deutscher Verlag fur
Musik (DVfM) in Leipzig
since 1961, it sees
itself as a fundamentally
new conception which
reflects the present-day
standard of scholarly
editions.The first
volumes of the new
Complete Edition were
presented in Leipzig on 3
November 1997 at
Mendelssohn Festtage in
Leipzig.SON 411 - 413
have been awarded the
German Music Edition
Prize
2006.
Editorial
Board: Christian Martin
Schmidt (chairman), Peter
Ward Jones, Friedhelm
Krummacher, R. Larry
Todd, Ralf Wehner;
research associates: Ralf
Wehner, Clemens Harasim,
Birgit Muller Price
reduction for a
subscription.
Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: PR.144404550 Composed by Sydney F. Hodk...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.144404550
Composed
by Sydney F. Hodkinson.
Set of Score and Parts.
With Standard notation.
Composed 2002.
53+20+16+16+16 pages.
Duration 22 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#144-40455. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.144404550).
UPC:
680160030859.
After
finishing a serious
woodwind quintet in the
fall of 2001 [Tela
Lacerata], I found, in
the ensuing months, that
its cinders/ashes were
still impregnating my
eardrums. Therefore, when
I set out to write the
present string piece, I
realized that the musical
veins of the quartet,
like related cousins,
were sharing the same
blood as the earlier wind
composition. The
resultant Fifth Quartet
evolved into two large,
extended movements, each
one containing seven
parts that are played
without pause. As the
list of the various
sub-sections clearly
indicates, the formal
structure of the
movements appear to be
identical: each with
three main parts
enveloped by interludes,
plus an introduction and
coda. However, the
principal segments of the
first (slow) movement
gradually decrease in
length, while those of
the second (fast)
movement increase. In
addition, there is a
goodly amount of sonic
material stolen from the
first movement which
reappears -- stitched
together in a new guise
-- into the world of the
second. for example, the
bulk of Parts B and C of
Movement II are lifted
bodily, although
elaborately modified,
from their first
appearances in the
Introduction and Part A
of the fist movement.
This offers, I suppose at
least a hint of a
traditional
recapitulation. As was
true in the earlier
woodwind piece -- both
harmonically and
melodically -- the
embryonic growth of the
musical fabric (primarily
the tritone and perfect
fifth) is omnipresent,
almost obsessively,
throughout the course of
the whole work. These two
intervals, not unlike
plasticine, habitually
transform themselves into
the scales, chords, and
melodic lines that
pervade the texture of
the quartet. Owing to the
largely unrelieved
dramatic flow, the
shifting speed, and the
often fervent intensity,
the quartet places
considerable demands on
the dexterity,
virtuosity, and stamina
of the four performers.
String Quartet No. 5 is
approximately 22 minutes
in duration and
affectionately dedicated
to my violinist wife
Elizabeth, as a gift for
our 47 years together. It
was commissioned by the
Corigliano String
Quartet, New York, NY. --
Sydney Hodkinson.
Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: PR.14440455S Composed by Sydney F. Hodk...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.14440455S
Composed
by Sydney F. Hodkinson.
Large Score. With
Standard notation. 53
pages. Duration 22
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #144-40455S.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.14440455S).
UPC:
680160030873.
After
finishing a serious
woodwind quintet in the
fall of 2001 [Tela
Lacerata], I found, in
the ensuing months, that
its cinders/ashes were
still impregnating my
eardrums. Therefore, when
I set out to write the
present string piece, I
realized that the musical
veins of the quartet,
like related cousins,
were sharing the same
blood as the earlier wind
composition. The
resultant Fifth Quartet
evolved into two large,
extended movements, each
one containing seven
parts that are played
without pause. As the
list of the various
sub-sections clearly
indicates, the formal
structure of the
movements appear to be
identical: each with
three main parts
enveloped by interludes,
plus an introduction and
coda. However, the
principal segments of the
first (slow) movement
gradually decrease in
length, while those of
the second (fast)
movement increase. In
addition, there is a
goodly amount of sonic
material stolen from the
first movement which
reappears -- stitched
together in a new guise
-- into the world of the
second. for example, the
bulk of Parts B and C of
Movement II are lifted
bodily, although
elaborately modified,
from their first
appearances in the
Introduction and Part A
of the fist movement.
This offers, I suppose at
least a hint of a
traditional
recapitulation. As was
true in the earlier
woodwind piece -- both
harmonically and
melodically -- the
embryonic growth of the
musical fabric (primarily
the tritone and perfect
fifth) is omnipresent,
almost obsessively,
throughout the course of
the whole work. These two
intervals, not unlike
plasticine, habitually
transform themselves into
the scales, chords, and
melodic lines that
pervade the texture of
the quartet. Owing to the
largely unrelieved
dramatic flow, the
shifting speed, and the
often fervent intensity,
the quartet places
considerable demands on
the dexterity,
virtuosity, and stamina
of the four performers.
String Quartet No. 5 is
approximately 22 minutes
in duration and
affectionately dedicated
to my violinist wife
Elizabeth, as a gift for
our 47 years together. It
was commissioned by the
Corigliano String
Quartet, New York, NY. --
Sydney Hodkinson.