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.
2 violins, viola, violoncello SKU: FG.55011-874-4 Composed by Tiina MyllÃ...(+)
2 violins, viola,
violoncello
SKU:
FG.55011-874-4
Composed by Tiina
Myllärinen. Classical,
contemporary. Score &
parts. Fennica Gehrman
#55011-874-4. Published
by Fennica Gehrman
(FG.55011-874-4).
Tiina
Myllärinen's (b. 1979)
(Bad) Dreams come true
for strings quartet
(2022) was composed when
war broke out in Europe.
The composer tells: The
shock, and the daily news
barrage of battles could
not help making an
impression on my work and
its material. I wondered
what dreams and plans
people had in Ukraine
before the war, and how
everything became a
nightmare in a single
night. Terror, fear and
tension found their way
into the work, along with
memories of life in the
past and dreams of a
different future. The
work is dedicated to the
people of Ukraine; to the
dreams that will
hopefully soon come
true.
This product
includes the full score
and a set of
parts.
Tiina
Myllärinen’s
music has been described
as cheerfully
inquisitive, vigorous and
original. Her works
include Squarcio for
ensemble, the orchestral
what? (2010) and Traces
(2013, commissioned by
the Pro Musica Foundation
and premiered at the
Helsinki Music Centre on
5 June 2014) and Three
Songs for voice, guitar
and cello (2007).
String Quartet (Parts) SKU: HL.14037707 Parts. Composed by Kevin V...(+)
String Quartet (Parts)
SKU: HL.14037707
Parts. Composed by
Kevin Volans. Music Sales
America. Contemporary.
Softcover. Composed 2010.
80 pages. Chester Music
#CH7452501. Published by
Chester Music
(HL.14037707).
ISBN
9781849385916. UPC:
884088578626.
8.25x11.75x0.262
inches.
Kevin
Volans' String Quartet
No. 9: Shiva Dances was
commissioned by BBC Radio
3 and first performed by
the Smith Quartet at the
2004 Huddersfield
Contemporary Music
Festival.
Kevin
Volans (the composer)
notes on the
piece: In the past
I have been interested in
trying to go beyond
historicism (1970s),
beyond style(1980s) and
beyond form (1990s) in my
work. Looking back over
the music of the
twentiethcentury I was
struck by the fact the
nearlyall of it is
extremely 'busy', almost
cluttered. Italmost
seemed that composers
felt compelled to look
industrious. In the new
millennium Ithought it
would be interesting to
try and eliminate
content. I also aspired
to movingfrommusic (sound
as art) to art (art as
sound). This, of course,
has already been done by
a numberof composers
(many from New York -
Phil Niblock and La Monte
Young, to name but two),
butit was something I had
never tried.AlthoughI
found it annoying that
the label 'minimalist'
was given to my
African-based work,and
fearing this would make
the label stick, I set
out to write a piece
which reflected my loveof
minimal painting and
architecture. The
Japanesehave a term
'wabi' meaning
'voluntarypoverty' or
'emptiness' to describe
their restrained minimal
aesthetic, an aesthetic
which,however, pays
greatest attention to the
quality of material and
fine detail. I like to
think thatthelack of
excessive pitch material
in this piece reflects a
kind of voluntary
poverty.When Shiva is
portrayed dancing (as
Nataraj) He is depicted
in a circle of flames
crushing asmall figure -
the ego - underfoot.You
get theimpression He
dances on the spot, not
movingaround at all. I
like that. The piece
is dedicated to Pablo
Pascual
Cilleruelo.