String Quartet - difficult SKU: HL.49008109 Score and Parts. Compo...(+)
String Quartet -
difficult
SKU:
HL.49008109
Score
and Parts. Composed
by Peteris Vasks. This
edition: Saddle
stitching. Sheet music.
Edition Schott.
Classical. Score and
Parts. Composed 1995. 96
pages. Duration 27'.
Schott Music #ED8640.
Published by Schott Music
(HL.49008109).
ISBN
9790001120678. UPC:
073999881493.
9.0x12.0x0.268
inches.
'Christmas
* Peace on Earth' is the
leading motive of the
String Quartet, a tenet
of faith as well as an
expression of hope. In
the first part of the
work Vasks uses themes
from a well-known
Christmas carol, while
the second part is
strongly influenced by
Latvian folksongs and
dances. The third
section, with a
chromaticiscm strongly
reminiscent of
Shostakovitch,
investigates and
questions the feasibility
of any peace in our
society. The final, calm
and slightly melancholy
section symbolizes 'Peace
on Earth' by means of
sonorous sustained
choirs.
Harbor Music Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle 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.
Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: PR.11441345S Prelude to Contrapunctu...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.11441345S
Prelude to
Contrapunctus X from the
Art of the Fugue.
Composed by Shulamit Ran.
Full score. With Standard
notation. Duration 4
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #114-41345S.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.11441345S).
UPC:
680160608829. 8.5 x 11
inches.
BACH-SHARDS
was commissioned by the
Brentano String Quartet
as part of their Art of
the Fugue companion-piece
project. Ran deliberately
stays within the realm of
Bach-like vocabulary,
altering syntax in ways
that add up to something
slightly different from
the anticipated sum of
the parts. The work
builds up to a climax
that makes the entry
point into Bach’s
Contrapunctus X seem
thoroughly
natural. While
composing Bach-Shards I
found myself gravitating,
intuitively and
gradually, toward a dual
goal. First, though
the tension and
dissonance inherent in
certain moments of
Bach’s own
maze-likeÂ
contrapuntal structures
could quite easily and
naturally lead one into a
pungent contemporary
terrain, I opted not to
stray outside the realm
of Bach-like materials
and harmonic
language. Instead, it
was my hope to alter
their relationships and
context in ways that add
up to a something
that’s slightly
different than the
anticipated sum of the
parts. A mildly
deconstructed Bach, if
you will. The other
important challenge I set
for myself was building
up the latter,
toccata-like portion of
Bach-Shards in a way that
would make the entry
point of the fugue which
it precedes,
Contrapunctus X, seem
thoroughly natural.Â
It was my intent to have
the first fugal entrance
feel like a huge and much
welcome release of the
energy created by my
Prelude’s
penultimate stretch, with
its bravura figurations
elaborating on an
insistent dominant pedal
point.