Demanding salon music for string quartet (with double-bass ad libitum) is provided by Wolfgang Birtel in his 'Latin Dances' with four titles which can be played individually or as a little suite. The first dance is the chorinho 'Não me toques' by Zequinha de Abreu (1880-1935) who not only wrote 'Tico Tico' but also other rousing pieces of music. Ernesto Nazareth (1863-1934) is considered to be the 'inventor' of the Brazilian tango and waltz: He titled the waltz, which follows as second title, 'Ingenious'. These rather unknown titles are followed by two absolute worldwide hits: 'Bolada de Aficionado' by A.G. Villoldo and then the everlasting beguine 'Bésame Mucho' by the Mexican composer Consuelo Velázques (1916-2005). Whether individually or as a 'four-pack' - the fingers will be twitching and the toes will be tingling for this music carries away musicians and audience alike. / Quatuor A Cordes

Born in South Africa, but now an Irish citizen, Kevin Volans' musical idiom has been shaped by an unusually diverse range of experiences, including studies with Stockhausen in Cologne, field trips to South Africa to study traditional music, his own involvement with the New Simplicity movement, his collection of contemporary art and African textiles, friendships with composers like Morton Feldman and Gerald Barry, as well as a love of virtuoso piano music which he performs, broadcasts and records. While having an easily recognised, unique voice, Volans' music resists compartmentalisation. He is as comfortable working in conventional genres as embarking on innovative collaborations with artists of other disciplines.String Quartet #1 (White Man Sleeps) was written for the Kronos Quartet and was first performed by them in July 1986, London.The title 'White Man Sleeps' comes from a moment in nyanga Panpipe music where the performers leave off playing their loud pipes for a few cycles and dance only to the sound of their ankle rattles, to let the white landowner sleep - for a minute or two.'In composing this piece I drew from the following sources: the first movement owes something to the style of Basotho concertina music - the second and fourth movements are drawn from traditional Nyungwe music played by Makina Chirenje and his Nyanga panpipe group at Nsava, Tete, Mozambique, recorded and transcribed by Andrew Tracey (to be found in an article entitled 'The nyanga Panpipe dance' in African Music, Vol.5, #1 (1971) - the third movement derives from the San bow music (recorded by Tony Traill of the University of Witwatersrand) and from Basotho lesiba music, transcribed by myself - in the fifth movement I added my own invented folklore. My approach to the original music was anything but purist - it is played in Western tuning, filtered, slowed down by a few 'time-octaves?, cast into non-African metres (like the 13-beat pattern of the first dance) and redistributed between the players in several ways. I also used interlocking techniques where they were absent in the original models and vice versa' - Kevin VolansDuration 24 minutes. Parts available: CH61205. / Quatuor A Cordes (Conducteur)

Par ADES THOMAS. Thomas Adès’s second work for string quartet, The Four Quarters was written for the Emerson Quartet and was premiered by them at Carnegie Hall in 2011. The winner of the 2012 British Composer Award for Chamber Composition, the 20-minute work charts the progress of a day. Glassy harmonics typify the opening movement Nightfalls, whilst playful pizzicati abound in Serenade – Morning Dew. A sombre third movement, Days, is underpinned by a searching ostinato before the work breaks free from conventional time in The Twenty-Fifth Hour, the glittering finale which swings and dances in the unusual time signature of 25/16. / Ensemble Music / Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

10 Fugues For String Quartet Vol. 2. Par BACH JOHANN-SEBASTIAN. The idea for these arrangements came to me whilst listening to the Hagen Quartet's beautiful recording of the fugues that form part of Haydn's 'Sun Quartets', Op. 20. The spirit and influence of J.S. Bach, in particular his Well Tempered Clavier, Book II, courses through these three miraculous Haydn fugues. Like the viol consort, the string quartet suits this kind of composition (the fugue), with all four instruments sufficiently similar in character to each other to match the extraordinary unity and economy of the counterpoint. A string quartet playing Bach fugues is a good example of a harmonious relationship between form andcontent: just as there is a unifying principle behind the construction of the four string instruments, so there is (usually) a single theme or subject that unifies the construction of a four-part fugue. Thus the form enacts the content, telling you something about the text and message within. Apart from Haydn's and a handful of other composers' wondrous creations, there's little fugal writing for string quartet, at least in comparison with the abundance of other forms. This was another reason to make these arrangements. The quartet offers a melodic independence impossible to achieve on a single instrument. And I believe the technical and interpretative challenges posed by this repertoire and ndash - lightness of sound and rhythmic fluidity, for example - will be very valuable to quartets seeking the holy grail: a unified sound. Perhaps the simplest and most compelling reason for this work is that I just love this music more than I can say. These dazzling pieces, mostly fast, bright and in major keys, show Bach at his most playful, funny and mischievous, composing for an instrument rarely associated with these qualities. And so I'm very happy to offer string quartets these little know fugues, written by my favourite composer - a violinist and violist himself, but above all a master / Classique / Date parution : 2018-05-04/ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

A modern sequel to the music of the Romantic era. The first movement hints at the chromatic of 'Tristan?- cantilena lines convey a mournful scene. It is succeeded by a brilliant scherzo with the cryptic title 'Erste fremde Szene? (First Foreign/Unknown Scene - one is invited to solve this riddle), while the third movement, with its singing quality, is related to the first. The final movement, a 'Zweite fremde Szene? ('Second Foreign/Unknown Scene?), alludes to the 'last dance? tradition, with its ironic undertones and the copious use of sixths, counterpointed with tarantella rhythms. A rewarding, striking work, equally valuable for concerts combining older compositions with new works as for contemporary music programmes. / Quatuor A Cordes