String quartet SKU: FG.55011-510-1 Composed by Matthew Whittall. Score an...(+)
String quartet
SKU:
FG.55011-510-1
Composed by Matthew
Whittall. Score and
parts. Fennica Gehrman
#55011-510-1. Published
by Fennica Gehrman
(FG.55011-510-1).
ISBN
9790550115101.
Matt
hew Whittall's preface to
Bright Ferment (2019): I
have a complicated
history with the string
quartet. Actually, it's
not that complicated. I
spent months writing a
huge one in my early
twenties and hastily
withdrew it after a long
delayed premiere, vowing
never to write another.
In a typical case of
karmic retribution, my
fear of the form would
eventually be overcome by
the unrefusable offer to
write the compulsory
piece for the Banff
International String
Quartet Competition in my
native Canada. The short
duration requested, about
nine minutes, also felt
like a good way to wade
gingerly back into the
medium. The title was
originally just a
nice-sounding pair of
words that surfaced in a
brainstorming session
with fellow composer Alex
Freeman over an
injudicious amount of
fermented barley. When I
looked it up later, I
found that it was a
phrase of older coinage,
seemingly used more for
poetic resonance than any
fixed meaning. Ferment by
itself denotes a state of
confusion, change or lack
of order. With bright, it
takes on a more positive
connotation with regard
to society and
creativity: a wild
profusion of ideas barely
checked by reason. (It
may not actually mean
that, but it describes
this piece nicely, so
let's go with it.)
Fermentation in its
trendy culinary usage is
also hinted at via a
recurrent percolating
device of scattered
pizzicati. As one may
guess from the tone of
this introduction, there
is little attempt at
gravity in Bright
Ferment, the only means
by which I felt I could
sidestep the historical
and expressive weight of
the string quartet genre.
Styles, gestures and
moods are tossed around,
cross-cut and abandoned
in
stream-of-consciousness
fashion, connected by
little except an
intuitive sense of
rightness in their
juxtaposition. If the
piece acquires depth in
spite of me, it will only
be because its disparate
parts amplify and
strengthen each other
simply by being together
- much like the ensemble
itself. Bright Ferment
was commissioned by the
Banff Centre for the Arts
and Creativity and the
Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation, with
additional funding from
the Americas Society (New
York), for the 2019 Banff
International String
Quartet Competition.
Duration: ca. 9
minutes.
String Quartet SKU: HL.14023641 Composed by Michael Nyman. Music Sales Am...(+)
String Quartet
SKU:
HL.14023641
Composed
by Michael Nyman. Music
Sales America. 20th
Century. Score. Composed
1993. 80 pages. Chester
Music #CH61116. Published
by Chester Music
(HL.14023641).
ISBN
9780711964082.
9.0x12.0x0.219
inches.
String
Quartet No.4 was written
for the Camilli Quartet
who gave the first
performance at the Queen
Elizabeth Hall, London,
April 1995. It is
dedicated to the memory
of Nyman's composition
teacher, Alan Bush. This
quartet is a narrative
made up of a chain of
twelve complete but often
cross-related movements,
each quite simple in
design. For instance, the
Scottish melody first
heard in the second half
of I is hinted at in the
2nd violin/viola in the
second fast section of II
and is directly quoted
again during III and XII.
The theme of the fast
section of IV is taken up
again in VIII; IX reverts
to the mood of the
opening of I, while the
rising scale/syncopated
themes of II, IX and the
bass of X and XII are
related. X also
reintroduces the slow
harmonics theme from VII.
XII is (apparently) cast
in the form of a baroque
French rondeau. The main
theme of VI was plucked
out of the Quartet and
used in my score for
Christopher Hampton's
film Carrington. Duration
40 minutes. A set of
parts is available for
sale.