String Quartet No. 2 Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle Merion Music
Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: PR.14440265S Composed by Sydney F. Hodk...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.14440265S
Composed
by Sydney F. Hodkinson.
Large Score. With
Standard notation.
Duration 25 minutes.
Merion Music #144-40265S.
Published by Merion Music
(PR.14440265S).
UPC:
680160027910.
The
Second and Third Quartets
were conceived at the
same time; indeed, their
composition intermingled,
over half of No. 3 being
sketched before No. 2 was
completed. Accordingly,
they share similar
material but, like the
intertwining blood of
cousins, their natures
differ: No. 2 being
somewhat acerbic and
declamatory, No. 3 more
lyric and gentler. An
annunicatory 'leaping
motive' (derived from a
motto generated by my
name) opens Quartet No. 2
and inhabits the course
of the piece as a
cyclical binding-force. A
five-note motive, usually
very deliberate, also
keeps recurring like an
insistent caller. All
three movements are based
on tonal centers (I on B
and E, II on D, III on C)
and the harmonic
'grammar' spoken tends to
recall the jazz world of
my youth. To hopefully
achieve a certain
classical ambience was
one of the goals of this
piece, and all three
movements have
traditional forms. The
first movement is a
modified Sonata-Allegro
design, with a
severely-truncated
recapitulation balanced
by a lengthy, and
decaying Coda. The second
movement is a set of
strophic variants and an
epilogue interspersed
with both solo ritornelli
and first-movement
material (the motto and
the five-note motive) in
the nature of a
fantasia-like
'call-and-response.' It
is dedicated to the
memory of the American
mezzo-soprano Jan
DeGaetani. The third
movement is a modified
Rondo (ABACBA) which
evolves out of the
opening motto. All three
movements make much use
of canonic stretti,
similar gestures, and
repetition. For example,
the climax of movement
III's Rondo throws the
first movement back at us
again, as if the players
were reluctant to let it
go, so that the entire
piece could perhaps be
viewed as a single large,
extended, Sonata
movement, with
introduction and
Coda. The Second and
Third Quartets were
conceived at the same
time; indeed, their
composition intermingled,
over half of No. 3 being
sketched before No. 2 was
completed.Â
Accordingly, they share
similar material but,
like the intertwining
blood of cousins, their
natures differ: No. 2
being somewhat acerbic
and declamatory, No. 3
more lyric and gentler.An
annunicatory
‘leaping
motive’ (derived
from a motto generated by
my name) opens Quartet
No. 2 and inhabits the
course of the piece as a
cyclical
binding-force. A
five-note motive, usually
very deliberate, also
keeps recurring like an
insistent caller. All
three movements are based
on tonal centers (I on B
and E, II on D, III on C)
and the harmonic
‘grammar’
spoken tends to recall
the jazz world of my
youth.To hopefully
achieve a certain
classical ambience was
one of the goals of this
piece, and all three
movements have
traditional forms.Â
The first movement is a
modified Sonata-Allegro
design, with a
severely-truncated
recapitulation balanced
by a lengthy, and
decaying Coda. The
second movement is a set
of strophic variants and
an epilogue interspersed
with both solo ritornelli
and first-movement
material (the motto and
the five-note motive) in
the nature of a
fantasia-like
‘call-and-response.
’ It is
dedicated to the memory
of the American
mezzo-soprano Jan
DeGaetani. The third
movement is a modified
Rondo (ABACBA) which
evolves out of the
opening motto.All three
movements make much use
of canonic stretti,
similar gestures, and
repetition. For
example, the climax of
movement III’s
Rondo throws the first
movement back at us
again, as if the players
were reluctant to let it
go, so that the entire
piece could perhaps be
viewed as a single large,
extended, Sonata
movement, with
introduction and
Coda.
String Quartet No. 8 Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle Merion Music
Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: PR.144407270 Composed by Sydney F. Hodk...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.144407270
Composed
by Sydney F. Hodkinson.
Sws. Set of Score and
Parts. 44+16+16+16+16
pages. Duration 22
minutes. Merion Music
#144-40727. Published by
Merion Music
(PR.144407270).
UPC:
680160681891. 9 x 12
inches.
My Eighth
and Ninth String
Quartets, begun in late
2017, are sonic cousins.
Akin to real cousins,
each piece exhibits
differing natures. They
were requested by two
ensembles that have
become asecond familiesa
to me: The Jupiter
Quartet of Urbana,
Illinois and the Amernet
Quartet based in Miami,
Florida. Their collective
dedication to, and care
for, our art remains a
personal and constant
are-fuelinga for me. The
quartets were
commissioned by, and
dedicated to, Margaret
and Philip Verleger of
Denver, Colorado.
Additional financial
support was provided by
the School of Music at
Stetson University,
Timothy Peter, Dean.
Quartet No.8 is laid out
in a classical
four-movement design. The
work does break somewhat
from conventional
tradition by often
placing quartet members
into soloistic roles as
the movement titles note.
individual The opening
piece presents at the
outset a three-note motto
which is turned over,
tumbled, and
energetically discussed,
primarily by a violin
duet. It is a duel. The
two players part company
only infrequently during
the movement's progress,
pausing briefly for other
commentary by their
alower cohortsa, the
Viola and Cello do not
argue, but abet their
friends' aeffortsa. The
piece's overall character
is fairly bright and
dancelike, closing in an
unresolvedastandoffa. not
Two principal
asound-objectsa stitch
the second movement
scherzo together: sliding
hands (glissandos) and a
plucked ashufflea
(pizzicato) - both
instigated by the (solo)
cellist. The others are
influenced - or are not -
by their aleadera, and
follow - or interrupt -
the cello throughout
their four-voiced
conversation. The third
movement (longest of the
set) is an elegy
dedicated to the memory
of a close personal
friend, the American
composer David Maslanka
(1943 - 2017). Its'
genesis is a simple
5-note melody derived
from my own name
(SaC/DaC/EaC/H). This
line commences in the
(solo) viola and is
obsessively uttered
without relief during the
movement's lamentations.
The closing movement
revisits much of that
opening three-note
material, but now dressed
up for the full quartet
to view. It is a slowly
accelerating romp which -
twice - cannot avoid a
nod to the Amernet and
Jupiter performers by
offering a humble bow to
the 4th movement of
Gustav Holst's PLANETS -
Jupiter: The Bringer of
Jollity. My quartet
serves as an honouring
salute of thanks for the
talent, respect, and
friendship of these two
young quartets. STRING
QUARTET No. 8 is roughly
22 minutes in duration.
It was written as an
homage to Franz Joseph
Haydn, my
adesert-island-composera,
and completed in Holly
Hill, Florida in early
April of 2019. S.H.
String Quartet No. 8 Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle Merion Music
Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: PR.14440727S Composed by Sydney F. Hodk...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.14440727S
Composed
by Sydney F. Hodkinson.
Sws. Full score. 44
pages. Duration 22
minutes. Merion Music
#144-40727S. Published by
Merion Music
(PR.14440727S).
UPC:
680160681907. 9 x 12
inches.
My Eighth
and Ninth String
Quartets, begun in late
2017, are sonic cousins.
Akin to real cousins,
each piece exhibits
differing natures. They
were requested by two
ensembles that have
become asecond familiesa
to me: The Jupiter
Quartet of Urbana,
Illinois and the Amernet
Quartet based in Miami,
Florida. Their collective
dedication to, and care
for, our art remains a
personal and constant
are-fuelinga for me. The
quartets were
commissioned by, and
dedicated to, Margaret
and Philip Verleger of
Denver, Colorado.
Additional financial
support was provided by
the School of Music at
Stetson University,
Timothy Peter, Dean.
Quartet No.8 is laid out
in a classical
four-movement design. The
work does break somewhat
from conventional
tradition by often
placing quartet members
into soloistic roles as
the movement titles note.
individual The opening
piece presents at the
outset a three-note motto
which is turned over,
tumbled, and
energetically discussed,
primarily by a violin
duet. It is a duel. The
two players part company
only infrequently during
the movement's progress,
pausing briefly for other
commentary by their
alower cohortsa, the
Viola and Cello do not
argue, but abet their
friends' aeffortsa. The
piece's overall character
is fairly bright and
dancelike, closing in an
unresolvedastandoffa. not
Two principal
asound-objectsa stitch
the second movement
scherzo together: sliding
hands (glissandos) and a
plucked ashufflea
(pizzicato) - both
instigated by the (solo)
cellist. The others are
influenced - or are not -
by their aleadera, and
follow - or interrupt -
the cello throughout
their four-voiced
conversation. The third
movement (longest of the
set) is an elegy
dedicated to the memory
of a close personal
friend, the American
composer David Maslanka
(1943 - 2017). Its'
genesis is a simple
5-note melody derived
from my own name
(SaC/DaC/EaC/H). This
line commences in the
(solo) viola and is
obsessively uttered
without relief during the
movement's lamentations.
The closing movement
revisits much of that
opening three-note
material, but now dressed
up for the full quartet
to view. It is a slowly
accelerating romp which -
twice - cannot avoid a
nod to the Amernet and
Jupiter performers by
offering a humble bow to
the 4th movement of
Gustav Holst's PLANETS -
Jupiter: The Bringer of
Jollity. My quartet
serves as an honouring
salute of thanks for the
talent, respect, and
friendship of these two
young quartets. STRING
QUARTET No. 8 is roughly
22 minutes in duration.
It was written as an
homage to Franz Joseph
Haydn, my
adesert-island-composera,
and completed in Holly
Hill, Florida in early
April of 2019. S.H.
String Quartet SKU: HL.14041525 Composed by Per Norgard. Music Sales Amer...(+)
String Quartet
SKU:
HL.14041525
Composed
by Per Norgard. Music
Sales America.
Contemporary Music. Set
of Parts. Edition Wilhelm
Hansen #KP01585A.
Published by Edition
Wilhelm Hansen
(HL.14041525).
ISBN
9788759871829. UPC:
196288071020.
9.5x14.25x0.167 inches.
Danish-English.
Pro
gramme Note During the
composition of my tenth
string quartet a
flower-name, host-tidlos,
came to my mind - and it
would not me leave again.
[hosttidlos is actually
autumn crocus in English,
but the composer prefers
harvest-timeless, to
maintain some of the
associations of the
Danish flower-name, red.]
The paradoxical union of
a seasonal time (harvest)
and no-time-at-all was a
good fit to the sections
of the work that I had
composed at that time,
and I decided to
tentatively stick to that
title for the
work-in-progress, and
now, having finished the
piece, I can say that is
is still a fitting title
- and it stands. Enough
about the title, I will
go on to describe
themusic, a somewhat more
precarious project. My
tenth string quartet is
probably the most basic
string quartet that I
have composed:
melodically - and in
sound - it employs the
naturally based overtones
and undertones (perceived
at major and minor,
respectively), and
rhythmically it is based
on growth, on the
principles of the Golden
Section, and the
structure itself
contrasts abundance and
exuberance with sections
of immobility and
contemplation. However,
Melos, melody, is
definitely the dominating
aspect of my STRING
QUARTET NO. 10: behind
even the most
rhythmically complex or
pure sonoric sections
lies a firm - if hidden -
basis of melodic or
polyphonic ideas. The
work was composed in
2004-2005 for the Kroger
Quartet.
String Quartet SKU: HL.14041524 Composed by Per Norgard. Music Sales Amer...(+)
String Quartet
SKU:
HL.14041524
Composed
by Per Norgard. Music
Sales America.
Contemporary Music.
Score. Edition Wilhelm
Hansen #KP01585.
Published by Edition
Wilhelm Hansen
(HL.14041524).
ISBN
9788759871812.
Danish-English.
Pro
gramme Note During the
composition of my tenth
string quartet a
flower-name, host-tidlos,
came to my mind - and it
would not me leave again.
[hosttidlos is actually
autumn crocus in English,
but the composer prefers
harvest-timeless, to
maintain some of the
associations of the
Danish flower-name, red.]
The paradoxical union of
a seasonal time (harvest)
and no-time-at-all was a
good fit to the sections
of the work that I had
composed at that time,
and I decided to
tentatively stick to that
title for the
work-in-progress, and
now, having finished the
piece, I can say that is
is still a fitting title
- and it stands. Enough
about the title, I will
go on to describe
themusic, a somewhat more
precarious project. My
tenth string quartet is
probably the most basic
string quartet that I
have composed:
melodically - and in
sound - it employs the
naturally based overtones
and undertones (perceived
at major and minor,
respectively), and
rhythmically it is based
on growth, on the
principles of the Golden
Section, and the
structure itself
contrasts abundance and
exuberance with sections
of immobility and
contemplation. However,
Melos, melody, is
definitely the dominating
aspect of my STRING
QUARTET NO. 10: behind
even the most
rhythmically complex or
pure sonoric sections
lies a firm - if hidden -
basis of melodic or
polyphonic ideas. The
work was composed in
2004-2005 for the Kroger
Quartet.
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.'
Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: PR.164002720 Cassatt. Composed b...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.164002720
Cassatt. Composed
by Dan Welcher. Spiral
and Saddle. Premiere:
Cassatt Quartet,
Northeastern Illinois
University, Chicago, IL.
Contemporary. Set of
Score and Parts. With
Standard notation.
Composed 2007. WRT11142.
52+16+16+16+16 pages.
Duration 24 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#164-00272. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.164002720).
UPC:
680160573042. 8.5 x 11
inches.
My third
quartet is laid out in a
three-movement structure,
with each movement based
on an early, middle, and
late work of the great
American impressionist
painter Mary Cassatt.
Although the movements
are separate, with
full-stop endings, the
music is connected by a
common scale-form,
derived from the name
MARY CASSATT, and by a
recurring theme that
introduces all three
movements. I see this
theme as Mary's Theme, a
personality that stays
intact while undergoing
gradual change. I
The Bacchante (1876)
[Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania] The
painting shows a young
girl of Italian or
Spanish origin, playing a
small pair of cymbals.
Since Cassatt was trying
very hard to fit in at
the French Academy at the
time, she painted a lot
of these subjects, which
were considered typical
and universal. The style
of the painting doesn't
yet show Cassatt's
originality, except
perhaps for certain
details in the face.
Accordingly the music for
this movement is
Spanish/Italian, in a
similar period-style but
using the musical
signature described
above. The music begins
with Mary's Theme,
ruminative and slow, then
abruptly changes to an
alla Spagnola-type fast
3/4 - 6/8 meter. It
evokes the
Spanish-influenced music
of Ravel and Falla.
Midway through,
there's an accompanied
recitative for the viola,
which figures large in
this particular movement,
then back to a truncated
recapitulation of the
fast music. The overall
feeling is of a
well-made, rather
conventional movement in
a contemporary
Spanish/Italian style.
Cassatt's painting, too,
is rather conventional.
II At the Opera
(1880) [Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston,
Massachusetts]
This painting is one of
Cassatt's most well known
works, and it hangs in
the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston. The painting
shows a woman alone in a
box at the opera house,
completely dressed
(including gloves) and
looking through opera
glasses at someone or
something that is NOT on
the stage. Across the
auditorium from her, but
exactly at eye level, is
a gentleman with opera
glasses intently watching
her - though it is not
him that she's looking
at. It's an intriguing
picture. This
movement is far less
conventional than the
first movement, as the
painting is far less
conventional. The music
begins with a rapid,
Shostakovich-type
mini-overture lasting
less than a minute, based
on Mary's Theme. My
conjecture is that the
woman in the painting has
arrived late to the
opera, busily stumbling
into her box. What
happens next is a kind of
collage, a kind of
surrealistic overlaying
of two different
elements: the foreground
music, at first is a
direct quotation of
Soldier's Chorus from
Gounod's FAUST (an opera
Cassatt would certainly
have heard in the
brand-new Paris Opera
House at that time),
played by Violin II,
Viola, and Cello. This
music is played sul
ponticello in the melody
and col legno in the
marching accompaniment.
On top of this, the first
violin hovers at first on
a high harmonic, then
descends into a slow
melody, completely
separate from the Gounod.
It's as if the woman in
the painting is hearing
the opera onstage but is
not really interested in
it. Then the cello joins
the first violin in a
kind of love-duet (just
the two of them, at
first). This music isn't
at all Gounod-derived;
it's entirely from the
same scale patterns as
the first movement and
derives from Mary's Theme
and its scale. The music
stays in a kind of
dichotomy feeling,
usually
three-against-one, until
the end of the movement,
when another Gounod
melody, Valentin's aria
Avant de quitter ce lieux
reappears in a kind of
coda for all four
players. It ends
atmospherically and
emotionally disconnected,
however. The overall
feeling is a kind of
schizophrenic,
opera-inspired dream.
III Young Woman in
Green, Outdoors in the
Sun (1909) [Worcester Art
Museum, Massachusetts]
The painting, one
of Cassatt's last, is
very simple: just a
figure, looking sideways
out of the picture. The
colors are pastel and yet
bold - and the woman is
likewise very
self-assured and not in
the least demure. It is
eight minutes long, and
is all about melody -
three melodies, to be
exact (Young Woman,
Green, and Sunlight). No
angst, no choppy rhythms,
just ever-unfolding
melody and lush
harmonies. I quote one
other French composer
here, too: Debussy's song
Green, from Ariettes
Oubliees. 1909 would have
been Debussy's heyday in
Paris, and it makes
perfect sense musically
as well as visually to do
this. Mary Cassatt
lived her last several
years in near-total
blindness, and as she
lost visual acuity, her
work became less sharply
defined - something akin
to late water lilies of
Monet, who suffered
similar vision loss. My
idea of making this
movement entirely melodic
was compounded by having
each of the three
melodies appear twice,
once in a pure form, and
the second time in a more
diffuse setting. This
makes an interesting two
ways form:
A-B-C-A1-B1-C1.
String Quartet No.3
(Cassatt) is dedicated,
with great affection and
respect, to the Cassatt
String Quartet, whose
members have dedicated
themselves in large
measure to the furthering
of the contemporary
repertoire for
quartet.
Cassatt. Composed
by Dan Welcher. Premiere:
Cassatt Quartet,
Northeastern Illinois
University, Chicago, IL.
Contemporary. Full score.
With Standard notation.
Composed 2007. WRT11142.
52 pages. Duration 24
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #164-00272S.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.16400272S).
UPC:
680160588442. 8.5 x 11
inches.
My third
quartet is laid out in a
three-movement structure,
with each movement based
on an early, middle, and
late work of the great
American impressionist
painter Mary Cassatt.
Although the movements
are separate, with
full-stop endings, the
music is connected by a
common scale-form,
derived from the name
MARY CASSATT, and by a
recurring theme that
introduces all three
movements. I see this
theme as Mary's Theme, a
personality that stays
intact while undergoing
gradual change. I
The Bacchante (1876)
[Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania] The
painting shows a young
girl of Italian or
Spanish origin, playing a
small pair of cymbals.
Since Cassatt was trying
very hard to fit in at
the French Academy at the
time, she painted a lot
of these subjects, which
were considered typical
and universal. The style
of the painting doesn't
yet show Cassatt's
originality, except
perhaps for certain
details in the face.
Accordingly the music for
this movement is
Spanish/Italian, in a
similar period-style but
using the musical
signature described
above. The music begins
with Mary's Theme,
ruminative and slow, then
abruptly changes to an
alla Spagnola-type fast
3/4 - 6/8 meter. It
evokes the
Spanish-influenced music
of Ravel and Falla.
Midway through,
there's an accompanied
recitative for the viola,
which figures large in
this particular movement,
then back to a truncated
recapitulation of the
fast music. The overall
feeling is of a
well-made, rather
conventional movement in
a contemporary
Spanish/Italian style.
Cassatt's painting, too,
is rather conventional.
II At the Opera
(1880) [Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston,
Massachusetts]
This painting is one of
Cassatt's most well known
works, and it hangs in
the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston. The painting
shows a woman alone in a
box at the opera house,
completely dressed
(including gloves) and
looking through opera
glasses at someone or
something that is NOT on
the stage. Across the
auditorium from her, but
exactly at eye level, is
a gentleman with opera
glasses intently watching
her - though it is not
him that she's looking
at. It's an intriguing
picture. This
movement is far less
conventional than the
first movement, as the
painting is far less
conventional. The music
begins with a rapid,
Shostakovich-type
mini-overture lasting
less than a minute, based
on Mary's Theme. My
conjecture is that the
woman in the painting has
arrived late to the
opera, busily stumbling
into her box. What
happens next is a kind of
collage, a kind of
surrealistic overlaying
of two different
elements: the foreground
music, at first is a
direct quotation of
Soldier's Chorus from
Gounod's FAUST (an opera
Cassatt would certainly
have heard in the
brand-new Paris Opera
House at that time),
played by Violin II,
Viola, and Cello. This
music is played sul
ponticello in the melody
and col legno in the
marching accompaniment.
On top of this, the first
violin hovers at first on
a high harmonic, then
descends into a slow
melody, completely
separate from the Gounod.
It's as if the woman in
the painting is hearing
the opera onstage but is
not really interested in
it. Then the cello joins
the first violin in a
kind of love-duet (just
the two of them, at
first). This music isn't
at all Gounod-derived;
it's entirely from the
same scale patterns as
the first movement and
derives from Mary's Theme
and its scale. The music
stays in a kind of
dichotomy feeling,
usually
three-against-one, until
the end of the movement,
when another Gounod
melody, Valentin's aria
Avant de quitter ce lieux
reappears in a kind of
coda for all four
players. It ends
atmospherically and
emotionally disconnected,
however. The overall
feeling is a kind of
schizophrenic,
opera-inspired dream.
III Young Woman in
Green, Outdoors in the
Sun (1909) [Worcester Art
Museum, Massachusetts]
The painting, one
of Cassatt's last, is
very simple: just a
figure, looking sideways
out of the picture. The
colors are pastel and yet
bold - and the woman is
likewise very
self-assured and not in
the least demure. It is
eight minutes long, and
is all about melody -
three melodies, to be
exact (Young Woman,
Green, and Sunlight). No
angst, no choppy rhythms,
just ever-unfolding
melody and lush
harmonies. I quote one
other French composer
here, too: Debussy's song
Green, from Ariettes
Oubliees. 1909 would have
been Debussy's heyday in
Paris, and it makes
perfect sense musically
as well as visually to do
this. Mary Cassatt
lived her last several
years in near-total
blindness, and as she
lost visual acuity, her
work became less sharply
defined - something akin
to late water lilies of
Monet, who suffered
similar vision loss. My
idea of making this
movement entirely melodic
was compounded by having
each of the three
melodies appear twice,
once in a pure form, and
the second time in a more
diffuse setting. This
makes an interesting two
ways form:
A-B-C-A1-B1-C1.
String Quartet No.3
(Cassatt) is dedicated,
with great affection and
respect, to the Cassatt
String Quartet, whose
members have dedicated
themselves in large
measure to the furthering
of the contemporary
repertoire for
quartet.
Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: PR.14440385S Composed by Sydney F. Hodk...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.14440385S
Composed
by Sydney F. Hodkinson.
Large Score. With
Standard notation.
Duration 20 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#144-40385S. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.14440385S).
UPC:
680160029907.
A
shorter and less
stringent work than my
two previous quartets
(1992 and 1994), the
Fourth Quartet is
comprised, almost
obsessively, of the
interplay between two
thematic kernels: (1) a
5-note motto, announced
at the outset, derived
from pitches in my own
name; and (2) a brief
legato line of expressive
sevenths (minor/major),
which is itself born out
of the first cell. Both
of these fragments
constantly pervade the
entire work, albeit in
ever-changing raiment.
The piece is extremely
classical in design: four
movements played without
interruption -
slow/fast/slow/fast -
with the first and third
sections alternating
declamatory and calmer
gestures, and the second
and fourth being, in
effect, almost variants
of each other. Quartet
No. 4 is approximately 20
minutes in duration and
each movement, as noted,
was written in memory of
dear friends who passed
away during late 1995 and
early 1996. The work was
completed in April of
1996 in Ormond, Florida
and Fairport, New York.
--Sydney Hodkinson. A
shorter and less
stringent work than my
two previous quartets
(1992 and 1994), the
Fourth Quartet is
comprised, almost
obsessively, of the
interplay between two
thematic kernels: (1) a
5-note motto, announced
at the outset, derived
from pitches in my own
name; and (2) a brief
legato line of expressive
sevenths (minor/major),
which is itself born out
of the first cell.Â
Both of these fragments
constantly pervade the
entire work, albeit in
ever-changing raiment.The
piece is extremely
classical in design: four
movements played without
interruption –
slow/fast/slow/fast
– with the first
and third sections
alternating declamatory
and calmer gestures, and
the second and fourth
being, in effect, almost
variants of each
other.Quartet No. 4 is
approximately 20 minutes
in duration and each
movement, as noted, was
written in memory of dear
friends who passed away
during late 1995 and
early 1996. The work
was completed in April of
1996 in Ormond, Florida
and Fairport, New
York.—Sydney
Hodkinson.
String Quartet (2vl,va,vc) SKU: BR.EB-9243 Full Score. Composed by...(+)
String Quartet
(2vl,va,vc)
SKU:
BR.EB-9243
Full
Score. Composed by
Christian Mason. Chamber
music; stapled. Edition
Breitkopf. World premiere
of the original version:
London, May 10, 2016World
premiere of the string
orchestra version:
Clermont-Ferrand, October
8, 2020. New music
(post-2000). Full score.
Composed 2016/2020. 40
pages. Duration 19'.
Breitkopf and Haertel #EB
9243. Published by
Breitkopf and Haertel
(BR.EB-9243).
ISBN
9790004185438. 9 x 12
inches.
It was the
practice of Khoomii
(throat singing) -
following several
workshops with Michael
Ormiston - that first
attracted me to Tuvan
music. Composing this
Songbook, the first in a
series commissioned by
the Ligeti Quartet, I
took the chance to
reflect on compositional
questions around
transcription and
arrangement of existing
music, and frequently
found myself asking:
where is the boundary
between the source
material and the new
substance? Of course the
relationship varies from
piece to piece, and
moment to moment:
sometimes we seem to
glimpse the pure source,
but most of the time
there are differing
degrees of distance,
working towards or away
from it. This new version
for string orchestra
corresponds closely to
the original quartet
version, with an
additional part for
double basses.The
traditional Tuvan songs
that I have transcribed
and recomposed are all
known to me from the Ay
Kherel CD The Music of
Tuva: Throat Singing and
Instruments from Central
Asia (2004, Arc Music).
According to the notes
from that CD, this is
what the songs are
about:1. Dyngylday: If
you have come on a horse
in blue, it doesn't mean
that you are the best. My
heart tells me something
else: my sweetheart
doesn't have such a
beautiful horse, but he
is my darling.An
alternative
interpretation from Alash
Ensemble
(alashensemble.com): The
word dyngylday is a
nonsense term with no
translation. The song
makes good-humored fun of
somebody for being a
good-for-nothing.2. Eki
Attar (The Best Steeds):
The horse is the basis of
our life. It is a magic
creature. Even its step
is full of music and
rhythm. You may not be a
horse rider, but when you
hear this song you will
always remember horses.3.
Kuda Yry: This wedding
song glorifies the
strength of the groom and
the beauty of his
Horse.4. Ezir-Kara
('Black Eagle'): This was
the name of a horse, who
became a legend through
his remarkable strength
and speed.It is not just
overtones that abound
here: there are galloping
rhythms aplenty, and
though I am no horse
rider I tried to keep the
horses galloping in my
imagination while
composing these
pieces.Christian Mason
(with quotes from Ay
Kherel and Alash
Ensemble)
World
premiere of the original
version: London/UK, May
10, 2016, World premiere
of the string orchestra
version:
Clermont-Ferrand/France,
October 8, 2020.
String Quartet (2vl,va,vc) SKU: BR.EB-9244 Set of Parts. Composed ...(+)
String Quartet
(2vl,va,vc)
SKU:
BR.EB-9244
Set of
Parts. Composed by
Christian Mason. Chamber
music; stapled. Edition
Breitkopf. World premiere
of the original version:
London, May 10, 2016World
premiere of the string
orchestra version:
Clermont-Ferrand, October
8, 2020. New music
(post-2000). Set of
parts. Composed
2016/2020. 92 pages.
Duration 19'. Breitkopf
and Haertel #EB 9244.
Published by Breitkopf
and Haertel (BR.EB-9244).
ISBN 9790004185445. 9
x 12 inches.
It was
the practice of Khoomii
(throat singing) -
following several
workshops with Michael
Ormiston - that first
attracted me to Tuvan
music. Composing this
Songbook, the first in a
series commissioned by
the Ligeti Quartet, I
took the chance to
reflect on compositional
questions around
transcription and
arrangement of existing
music, and frequently
found myself asking:
where is the boundary
between the source
material and the new
substance? Of course the
relationship varies from
piece to piece, and
moment to moment:
sometimes we seem to
glimpse the pure source,
but most of the time
there are differing
degrees of distance,
working towards or away
from it. This new version
for string orchestra
corresponds closely to
the original quartet
version, with an
additional part for
double basses.The
traditional Tuvan songs
that I have transcribed
and recomposed are all
known to me from the Ay
Kherel CD The Music of
Tuva: Throat Singing and
Instruments from Central
Asia (2004, Arc Music).
According to the notes
from that CD, this is
what the songs are
about:1. Dyngylday: If
you have come on a horse
in blue, it doesn't mean
that you are the best. My
heart tells me something
else: my sweetheart
doesn't have such a
beautiful horse, but he
is my darling.An
alternative
interpretation from Alash
Ensemble
(alashensemble.com): The
word dyngylday is a
nonsense term with no
translation. The song
makes good-humored fun of
somebody for being a
good-for-nothing.2. Eki
Attar (The Best Steeds):
The horse is the basis of
our life. It is a magic
creature. Even its step
is full of music and
rhythm. You may not be a
horse rider, but when you
hear this song you will
always remember horses.3.
Kuda Yry: This wedding
song glorifies the
strength of the groom and
the beauty of his
Horse.4. Ezir-Kara
('Black Eagle'): This was
the name of a horse, who
became a legend through
his remarkable strength
and speed.It is not just
overtones that abound
here: there are galloping
rhythms aplenty, and
though I am no horse
rider I tried to keep the
horses galloping in my
imagination while
composing these
pieces.Christian Mason
(with quotes from Ay
Kherel and Alash
Ensemble)
World
premiere of the original
version: London/UK, May
10, 2016, World premiere
of the string orchestra
version:
Clermont-Ferrand/France,
October 8, 2020.