Composed
by Peteris Vasks. This
edition: Saddle
stitching. Sheet music.
Edition Schott. Score and
Parts. Composed 2004. 56
pages. Duration 25'.
Schott Music #ED9809.
Published by Schott Music
(HL.49033305).
ISBN
9790001137911. UPC:
884088408053.
9.0x12.0x0.202
inches.
String
Quartet No. 5 consists of
two contrasting
movements. The first
movement, being present,
immediately leads to an
atmosphere of high
emotional tension. The
prevailing atmospheric
elements of the music are
dramatic and passionate,
alternating with each
other like a
kaleidoscope. In contrast
to that, a second theme
is intoned three times -
an invitation, a memory
of the existence of
another world, a
light-house which
illuminates the twilight
in which we live so
often. But this
invitation remains
unheard. The first
movement concludes with
dissonances in the upper
register - a cry of utter
desperation.The second
movement, so distant ...
yet so near, is the calm,
unhurried vocal section
of the quartet. A
forgiving, loving look at
a world tortured by grief
and contradictions.
Gradually, the singing
becomes more personal,
more emotional and more
dramatic. The rhythmic
figure of a funeral march
in the recapitulation of
the second movement is a
gesture of loss.
Eventually, the quartet
loses itself in an
atmosphere of
light-filled grief.
Peteris Vask.
Distant Voices Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle Schott
Score and Parts String Quartet (Score & Parts) SKU: HL.49047209 String...(+)
Score and Parts String
Quartet (Score & Parts)
SKU: HL.49047209
String Quartet Score
and Parts. Composed
by Toshio Hosokawa.
String Ensemble.
Classical, Contemporary.
Softcover. Duration 840
seconds. Schott Music
#SJ1214. Published by
Schott Music
(HL.49047209).
UPC:
196288159513.
In my
sixth work for a string
quartet, there is a very
simple melody concealed
in the background. That
melody (distant voices)
is played within an
extremely slow tempo, and
the notes which form the
melody gain different
textures by becoming
disassembled, and played
by different techniques.
In our daily lives, our
inner voices become
concealed by our daily
customs. The act of
composing, tome, is to
find out that concealed
distant voices, make
those voices spatialized
and construct them within
the musical time. This
work is dedicated to
Alois Lageder. Toshio
Hosokawa.
Special Import
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must be obtained from our
overseas suppliers. When
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import title, it will be
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warehouse. The shipment
time will be slower than
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from our US warehouse and
may be subject to
delays.
Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: PR.114405050 Composed by John Downey. S...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.114405050
Composed
by John Downey. Set of
Score and Parts. With
Standard notation. 53
pages. Duration 25
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #114-40505.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.114405050).
UPC:
680160008377. 11 x 14
inches.
Although
structurally it
subdivides into five
movements, the entire
quartet emerges as one
vast continuum. There are
no formal breaks between
movements. However,
certain musical signposts
can be discerned,
associated with each of
the movements'
terminations and new
beginnings. The opening
movement, The Nostalgia
of Clanging Bell
Sonorities, begins
floating on recurrent Bbs
whose soft rhythmic flow
slowly puts into motion
strong undercurrents
suggestive of the latent
power of water... After
several suggestions of
tolling bells, the
movement gradually fades
into hushed tones of
veiled and very distant
sonorities. It uses a
unique efffect, for the
first time in a musical
context, conveyed through
the use of extra heavy
practice mutes. The
second movement, The
Spill of Water ,
disengages itself from
the first through its
distinct contrast in
tempo. Water moves fast,
and when it splashes, it
tends to run wildly. In
this case, it happens to
be bubbly water that
gushes forth bodly...
smashing across rocky
shorlines. So, too, the
music attempts to conjure
such moods. At the end of
this movement, a cello
cadenza emerges,
introducing an
introspective type of
melodicism. The third
movement, The Poignancy
of Memory, contains many
silences as it tries to
convey memory through
fragmented remembrances
much like often occur in
our dream state.
Progressing through
several slowly building
images, it gradually
works itself into
juxtaposition of musical
images. Towards the
movement's end, high
harmonics are sounding in
all four instruments
while left hand pizzicato
notes in the cello pluch
the last remembrances of
this central core. Almost
imperceptibly, the viola
assumes leadership as it
dissolves into: The
fourth movement, The
Fluidity of Motion, which
has mostly the viola, but
also the cello,
articulating lyrical
statements against the
sheets of sound conjured
up by the two violins
playing a flood of
swirling figures, evokes
a kind of static motion
in spae. Here, the
virtually imperceptible
manner in which this
hushed whisper continues
incessantly, can suggest
the potential fluidity
with which movement may
inch forward... Later
into the fourth movement
, two fairly extended
solos by the second and
then the first violins,
lead to a kind of
spontaneous dialogue
among the four
instrumentalists.
Eventually, this musical
conversation gets caught
up in: The fifth
movement's The Rush of
Time, which opens with a
hushed flurry of speed,
precipitates the Finale.
It generates, at first
slowly, but then very
swiftly, whole shifts of
rhythmic fields that
initially seem to
conflict with one
another. Ultimately, this
use of 'psycho-rhythmics
contributes to an on-rush
of motion and time.
Rhythmic changes are, at
times, abruptly
precipitated with but
little or no preparation
creating a kind of
inevitability in forward
thrust, while the
movement rushes forward
with a feeling of gradual
and continuous
acceleration. It gathers
density as more and more
notes are piled
progressively upon
successive beats. The
attempt is to spark
tension and ignite
excitement by means of
frenetic confrontations
of dissimilitudes.
Ultimately - with the
help of time - these
polarities centrifically
spin out their own
destinies with their
accompanying fall-out and
own inevitable
resolutions.
Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: PR.11440505S Composed by John Downey. F...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.11440505S
Composed
by John Downey. Full
score. With Standard
notation. 53 pages.
Duration 25 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#114-40505S. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.11440505S).
UPC:
680160008391. 11 x 14
inches.
Although
structurally it
subdivides into five
movements, the entire
quartet emerges as one
vast continuum. There are
no formal breaks between
movements. However,
certain musical signposts
can be discerned,
associated with each of
the movements'
terminations and new
beginnings. The opening
movement, The Nostalgia
of Clanging Bell
Sonorities, begins
floating on recurrent Bbs
whose soft rhythmic flow
slowly puts into motion
strong undercurrents
suggestive of the latent
power of water... After
several suggestions of
tolling bells, the
movement gradually fades
into hushed tones of
veiled and very distant
sonorities. It uses a
unique effect, for the
first time in a musical
context, conveyed through
the use of extra heavy
practice mutes. The
second movement, The
Spill of Water,
disengages itself from
the first through its
distinct contrast in
tempo. Water moves fast,
and when it splashes, it
tends to run wildly. In
this case, it happens to
be bubbly water that
gushes forth bodly...
smashing across rocky
shorelines. So, too, the
music attempts to conjure
such moods. At the end of
this movement, a cello
cadenza emerges,
introducing an
introspective type of
melodicism. The third
movement, The Poignancy
of Memory, contains many
silences as it tries to
convey memory through
fragmented remembrances
much like often occur in
our dream state.
Progressing through
several slowly building
images, it gradually
works itself into
juxtaposition of musical
images. Towards the
movement's end, high
harmonics are sounding in
all four instruments
while left hand pizzicato
notes in the cello pluck
the last remembrances of
this central core. Almost
imperceptibly, the viola
assumes leadership as it
dissolves into: The
fourth movement, The
Fluidity of Motion, which
has mostly the viola, but
also the cello,
articulating lyrical
statements against sheets
of sound conjured up by
the two violins playing a
flood of swirling
figures, evokes a kind of
static motion in space.
Here , the virtually
imperceptible manner in
which this hushed whisper
continues incessantly,
can suggest the potential
fluidity with which
movement may inch
forward... Later into the
fourth movement, two
fairly extended solos by
the second and then the
first violins, lead to a
kind of spontaneous
dialogue amont the four
instrumentalists.
Eventually, this musical
conversation gets caught
up in: The fifth
movement's The Rush of
Time, which opens with a
hushed flurry of speed,
precipitates the Finale.
It generates, at first
slowly, but then very
swiftly, whole shifts of
rhythmic fields that
initially seem to
conflict with one
another. Ultimately, this
use of psycho-rhythmics
contributes to an on-rush
seem of motion and time.
Rhythmic changes are, at
times, abruptly
precipitated with but
little or no preparation
creating a kind of
inevitability in forward
thrust, while the
movement rushes forward
with a feeling of gradual
and continuous
acceleration. It gathers
density as more and more
notes are piled
progressively upon
successive beats. The
attempt is to spark
tension and ignite
excitement by means of
frenetic confrontations
of dissimilitudes.
Ultimately - with the
help of time - these
polarities centrifically
spin out their own
destinies with their
accompanying fall-out and
own inevitable
resolutions.
Parts for String Quartet No.3 'Angel's Music' by Bent Sorensen (1988) Premiered ...(+)
Parts for String Quartet
No.3 'Angel's Music' by
Bent Sorensen (1988)
Premiered by the Arditti
String Quartet at the
Danish Radio Concert Hall
16 November 1988. Score
available: KP00250 The
composer writes: 'Even
when I was writing Adieu,
I knew that I wished to
write Angels Music. The
title existed in an
incomplete form in my
mind and gradually more
and more ideas and a few
outlines became clear.
The actual work on Angels
Music was started in
Rome, where I spent the
autumn of 1987 staying at
The Danish Academy.
Whether this stay has
influenced the quartet or
not is impossible to say.
however, it is true to
say that, in the Roman
churches I visited, I saw
countless angels playing
in the top of frescoes
and altars. Without these
angels, together with the
many crackled-gold
paintings in this city
and my general
fascination with the
Italian renaissance
painter Fra Angelico, (in
fact there are only a few
paintings by him in Rome,
but even his name..!) I
am not sure my quartet
would have been what it
is. Anyway I do feel that
there is a bit of Italy
in the piece. The angels
apart there are, in the
short rhythmic agitating
part of the quartet,
reminiscences of the
Italian medieval Trotto
dance, and in the most
expressive part ofthe
piece there are flashes
of Puccini-like music.
From the very beginning
of my work on the
quartet, the distant,
extremely muted sound in
the high register which
opens the piece, was on
my mind. A sound satiated
with a dense heterophonic
and polyphonic texture of
elegiac melody and
vibrating trills. I
imagined that little
songs (maybe angel songs)
could be created in this
density, these songs
constantly echoing
themselves. Gradually as
this sound got a more and
more concrete musical and
instrumental form, I
felt, that not only
should the little songs
be created, played and
die out in an echo, but
also that the general
pattern of the quartet
should give the feeling
of music which, from the
distance, is getting
closer and closer,
culminates and at last
disappears like an echo.
Related to this, the
general pattern of Angels
Music is divided into
three: a pre-echo,
culmination and echo..
The relationship between
the three part is 5: 6:
4. The reason why I can
say this precisely and
prosaically is that it
was necessary to me to
mark the overall
guidelines before I
started to compose. I had
to do this in order to
enable the relationships
to crawl from the small
cells into the general
pattern.'
Composed by Christian Mason. World premiere: Paris, Cite de la musique, Januar...(+)
Composed by Christian
Mason.
World premiere: Paris,
Cite
de la musique, January
14,
2020. Breitkopf and
Haertel
#EB 9377. Published by
Breitkopf and Haertel
Score and Parts Pipa; String Quartet (Score & Parts) SKU: HL.49046389 ...(+)
Score and Parts Pipa;
String Quartet (Score &
Parts)
SKU:
HL.49046389
Pipa
and String Quartet Score
and Parts. Composed
by Xiaogang Ye. String
Ensemble. Classical.
Softcover. 72 pages.
Duration 720 seconds.
Schott Music #ED23007.
Published by Schott Music
(HL.49046389).
ISBN
9781540086525. UPC:
840126910131. 9.0x12.0
inches.
This work
is among the subtropical
plants series of composer
Xiaogang Yes wroks, in
which include Enchanted
Bamboo, Hibiscus, Datura,
December Chrysanthemum,
Scent of Green Mango,etc.
These works show the
Southern-originated
musicians sensitivity and
attention to the natural
environment in a country
of the Far East. Gardenia
indistinctly means
eternal joy in Chinese
context. It isborn in a
moist natural environment
with a kind of faintly
fragrant scent; its white
color is of high
aesthetic value to
Asians. Andit is usually
used as food and medicine
in South Asia. The
gardenia honey is with
mild sweet and faint
sweet. The Gardenia is
also acity flower of
Yueyang City, which is a
quiet and distant small
city located in Hunan
Province, South of China.
When composing this work,
the composer adopted folk
operas and folk songs in
the area of Yueyuang,
showing his yearning and
a sense of loss to the
beautiful scenery in
South China.
String Quartet SKU: HL.14036341 Composed by Hugh Wood. Music Sales Americ...(+)
String Quartet
SKU:
HL.14036341
Composed
by Hugh Wood. Music Sales
America. Classical. Set.
Composed 2001. Chester
Music #CH60931. Published
by Chester Music
(HL.14036341).
ISBN
9780711955080.
Comm
issioned by the BBC and
premiered by the
Chilingirian String
Quartet. Quoting Wood: In
my Second and Third
Quartets I attempted
sectional, agglutinative
forms: in my Fourth I
return to the
conventional four
movement form of my First
Quartet of 1962. Both
works build up (as in the
19th century symphony) to
the Finale, thus making
it the most substantial
movement, which provides
a climax to the work. The
First Movement has, in
both works, only the
status of an
Introduction. But there
the consciously willed
resemblances end. This
Introduction follows the
Second Quartet to a
certain extent, in that
it provides a sort of
'cauldron', from which
elements to be used later
can all be plucked. Its
opening will reappear at
various points throughout
the work, most completely
at a climatic point of
the Finale (bar 110).
Subsequent material will
be more fully worked out
in the second movement, a
large Scherzo. The
Introduction concludes
with an unusually placed
violin cadenza (itself a
rare feature in a string
quartet, the idea lifted
from Elliott Carter's
First Quartet) of which
the opening is to
reappear halfway through
the Finale. The Scherzo
(which follows attacca)
does not have at its
centre a discretely
characterized Trio: a
figure in double-stops
like a distant fanfare
supplies the necessary
contrast of a second
idea. The Slow Movement
has a secondary idea
first heard on the cello
and marked appassionato:
an agitato middle section
recalls the opening of
the work, but in a
formulation which will be
found closely to
anticipate its
reappearance in the
Finale. The Finale is
planned on a broad scale.
Only after a fully worked
exposition of both
primary and secondary
material does the opening
of the whole work return,
now in a greatly extended
form. Then, at bar 140,
the tune of the violin
cadenza is first
harmonized in fanfare
style on the upper
instruments, then
presented as a chorale on
the lower ones, with a
rushing semiquaver
accompaniment above. This
climatic activity mounts
to the very end. The work
is dedicated to the
Chilingirian Quartet, old
friends over many years.
Score available
separately: SOS04044.
String Quartet SKU: HL.14030980 Parts. Composed by Bent Sorensen. ...(+)
String Quartet
SKU:
HL.14030980
Parts. Composed by
Bent Sorensen. Music
Sales America. Classical.
Set of Parts. Edition
Wilhelm Hansen #KP00249.
Published by Edition
Wilhelm Hansen
(HL.14030980).
ISBN
9788759871973.
12.0x16.0x0.285
inches.
Score
available: KP00250 The
composer writes: 'Even
when I was writing Adieu,
I knew that I wished to
write Angel's Music. The
title existed in an
incomplete form in my
mind and gradually more
and more ideas and a few
outlines became clear.
The actual work on
Angel's Music was started
in Rome, where I spent
the autumn of 1987
staying at The Danish
Academy. Whether this
stay has influenced the
quartet or not is
impossible to say.
however, it is true to
say that, in the Roman
churches I visited, I saw
countless angels playing
in the top of frescoes
and altars. Without these
angels, together with the
many crackled-gold
paintings in this city
and my general
fascination with the
Italian renaissance
painter Fra Angelico, (in
fact there are only a few
paintings by him in Rome,
but even his name..!) I
am not sure my quartet
would have been what it
is. Anyway I do feel that
there is a bit of Italy
in the piece. The angels
apart there are, in the
short rhythmic agitating
part of the quartet,
reminiscences of the
Italian medieval Trotto
dance, and in the most
expressive part of the
piece there are flashes
of Puccini-like music.
From the very beginning
of my work on the
quartet, the distant,
extremely muted sound in
the high register which
opens the piece, was on
my mind. A sound satiated
with a dense heterophonic
and polyphonic texture of
elegiac melody and
vibrating trills. I
imagined that little
songs (maybe angel songs)
could be created in this
density, these songs
constantly echoing
themselves. Gradually as
this sound got a more and
more concrete musical and
instrumental form, I
felt, that not only
should the little songs
be created, played and
die out in an echo, but
also that the general
pattern of the quartet
should give the feeling
of music which, from the
distance, is getting
closer and closer,
culminates and at last
disappears like an echo.
Related to this, the
general pattern of
Angel's Music is divided
into three: a pre-echo,
culmination and echo..
The relationship between
the three part is 5: 6:
4. The reason why I can
say this precisely and
prosaically is that it
was necessary to me to
mark the overall
guidelines before I
started to compose. I had
to do this in order to
enable the relationships
to crawl from the general
pattern almost
fractionally into the
smallest cells of the
music, or more correctly;
crawl from the small
cells into the general
pattern.'.
Harbor Music Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle [Conducteur] Theodore Presser Co.
String Quartet SKU: PR.16400222S Composed by Dan Welcher. Full score (stu...(+)
String Quartet
SKU:
PR.16400222S
Composed
by Dan Welcher. Full
score (study). With
Standard notation.
Duration 11 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#164-00222S. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.16400222S).
UPC:
680160037841.
This
work follows my Quartet
No. 1 by five years. In
terms of style and
aesthetic aim, however,
it seems light years
away. Where the first
work, a 28-minute,
four-movement piece, took
aim at cosmic conflicts
and heroic resolutions,
the present work is
intended as a kind of
divertissment. Harbor
Music lasts a mere eleven
minutes, is cast in a
single movement with six
sections, and should
leave both performers and
listeners with a feeling
of good humor and
affection. The
title comes from my
experience as a guest in
the magnificent city of
Sydney, Australia. One of
its most attractive
features is its unique
system of ferry boats:
the city is laid out
around a large,
multi-channeled harbor,
with destinations more
easily approached by
water than by land.
Consequently, inhabitants
of Sydney get around on
small, people-friendly
boats that come and go
from the central docks at
Circular Quay. During a
week's visit in 1991, I
must have boarded these
boats at least a dozen
times, always bound for a
new location - the resort
town of Manley, or the
Zoo at Taronga Park, or
the shopping district at
Darling Harbour.
In casting about for a
form for my second string
quartet, a kind of loose
rondo came to mind. Each
new destination would be
approached from the same
starting-out point
(although there are
subtle variations in the
repeating theme; it's
always in a new key, and
the texture is never the
same). The result, I
hope, is a sense of
constant new information
presented with
introductory frames of a
more familiar nature.
The embarkation
theme, which begins the
piece, is a sort of
bi-tonal fanfare in which
the violins are in G
major and the viola and
cello are in B-flat
major. It is bold, eager,
and forward-looking. The
first voyage maintains
this bi-tonality,
beginning as a 9/8 due
for second violin and
viola in a kind of
rocking motion -much as a
boat produces when
reaching the deeper water
in the harbor. A sweet,
nostalgic theme emerges
over this rocking
accompaniment. This music
is developed somewhat,
then transforms quickly
into a much faster and
lighter episode, filled
with rising and falling
scales (again, in
differing keys). A
scherzando interlude in
short notes and changing
meters provides contrast,
and the episode ends with
a reprise of the scales.
The second
embarkation follows, this
time in A major/C major.
It leads quickly into a
very warm and slow theme,
in wide-leaping intervals
for the viola. This
section is interrupted
twice by solo cadenzas
for the cello, suggesting
distant boat-horns in
major thirds. The end of
the episode becomes a
transition, with
boat-horns leading into
the final appearance of
the embarkation music,
this time in trills and
tremolos instead of
sharply accented chords.
The nostalgic theme of
the first episode makes a
final appearance, serving
now as a coda. The
rocking motion continues,
in a lullaby fashion,
leaving us drowsy and
satisfied on our homeward
journey. Harbor
Music was written for the
Cavani Quartet, and is
dedicated to Richard J.
Bogomolny. Commissioned
by his employees at First
National Supermarkets as
a gift, it represents a
thank you from many of
the people (including
this composer) who have
benefitted from his
vision and generosity. An
ardent advocate of
chamber music (and a
cellist himself), Mr.
Bogomolny has for many
years been Chairman of
the Board of Chamber
Music America. -- Dan
Welcher.