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.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.
Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: PR.11440902S Composed by Behzad Ranjbar...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.11440902S
Composed
by Behzad Ranjbaran. Full
score. With Standard
notation. Composed 1990.
44 pages. Duration 22
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #114-40902S.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.11440902S).
UPC:
680160013708.
The
quartet begins with a
5-note motif, played in
unison that permeates
melodically and
harmonically throughout
the movement. The
energetic and hard-driven
character of the second
musical idea propels the
music forward with fast
moving notes and greater
urgency. It often
alternates with the more
lyrical rendition of the
5-note motif, yielding
contrasting sections.
After a brief coda, the
5-note motif concludes
the movement much the
same way it had begun but
with greater intensity.
The second movement
explores the world of
fantasy. To some extent
the beginning and the
ending of the movement
function as the opening
and closing doors that
separate the reality from
the dream and
subconscious. It is one
continuous movement in an
arch form that gradually
accelerates to an
expansive emotional
climax and returning
steadily to the surface
led by an ethereal solo
cello. The transcendent
ending is similar to the
beginning, though half
step higher. The third
movement begins boldly
with the 5-note motif
transformed into a dance
character in a compound
meter. The asymmetrical
meter of the Persian folk
music influences much of
the rhythmic character of
the movement. The return
of many materials from
earlier movements
interwoven into the
fabric of this movement
reinforces the cyclical
and organic character of
the quarter.
Particularly, a
mysterious passage,
reminiscence of the
second movement leading
to a brief full-blown
ballad is a favorite
moment of Ranjbaran's in
the quartet. A blazingly
virtuosic viola leads the
quartet to an uplifting
conclusion.
Critical Edition
Hardcover. Composed
by Karol Szymanowski.
PWM. Classical.
Hardcover. 60 pages.
Polskie Wydawnictwo
Muzyczne #9267030.
Published by Polskie
Wydawnictwo Muzyczne
(HL.370494).
ISBN
9781705147009. UPC:
840126994025.
The
First String Quartet in C
major, Op. 37, was
written in the autumn of
1917 and earned
Szymanowski the first
prize in a competition
organized by the Ministry
of Religious and in a
competition organized by
the Ministry of Religious
and Educational Affairs
in January 1922. The
First String Quartet is
notable for its clar and
simple construction. The
first movement is in the
formof a sonata allegro;
the Andantino semplice
(in modo iuna canzone) in
the middle is a cross
between ternary and
variation form. The final
Scherzando alla burlesca
also keeps to the form of
a sonata allegro. The
combinations and
proportions of formal
factors and the treatment
of thematic material
betray a fairly
conventional adoption of
classical models.
Similarly, the expressive
and structural use of
melodic material shows a
respect for traditional
norms. Szymanowski
created, in other works
from the same period, his
own individual type of
melodic line, which was
strongly expressive and
achieved its effect
chiefly by its tonal
qualieties; nevertheless
in this Quartet he
returns to a fluid,
cantilena-like,
symmetrically shaped
melodic line, which runs
along in broad phrases of
a concentrated,
reflective character.
Melody becomes the chief
factor in the development
of the form, both in
thematic usage and in the
application of a more
polyphonic texture.
Harmonic and tonal means
are considerably
simplified in the Quartet
[]. Most of the writing
is linear, or horizontal,
with individual treatment
of each part, the
parallel continuation of
the four sound planes,
almost a matter of
principle. The functions
of the particular
instruments in realizing
these planes are
constantly changing,which
accounts for the even
greater variedy of
tone-colour. The decision
to forego experiment with
forms and sonorities is
reflectedin the overall
approach to musical
expression. The
predominant atmosphere of
restrained emotion, quiet
lyricism and serenity is
strongly suggestive of
classical aestetic
models. (Based on Zofia
Helman Commentary on
Szymanowski Complete
Edition, Vol. B6) (II)
The ''Second String
Quartet'' represents an
interesting attempt to
revert to classical form
coupled with the new
harmonic and tonal
vocabulary worked out
previously in the
''Slopiewnie'', ''Stabat
Mater'' and ''Mazurkas''.
It was also the first
time the composer had
used folk elements in the
framework of a major
classical form. The
''Second String Quartet''
is in a special category
among Szymanowski's
works. Though it dates
from the composer was
still occupied with folk
music, it nevertheless
shows him returning to
classical models, but at
the same time using an
aesthetic of subjective
expression, which gives
the work its own
individual stamp. The
''Second String Quartet''
synthesis of the various
directions in which
Szymanowski was
attempting to develop.
The sonority and texture
used in the first.
World
premiere: Paris (Festival
,,Presences), February
13, 2017 (Quatuor
Diotima)Commissioned by
Radio France
New
music (post-2000); Music
post-1945. Score.
Composed 2016/17. 12
pages. Duration 12'.
Breitkopf and Haertel #EB
9255. Published by
Breitkopf and Haertel
(BR.EB-9255).
ISBN
9790004185551. 9 x 12
inches.
C'est apres
un entretien avec le
Professeur Yuji Ikegaya
concernant ses recherches
en neurologie que j'ai
voulu travailler sur
quelques particularites
fonctionnelles du cerveau
humain. Quatre de ces
specificites ont retenu
mon attention. La
premiere est ce qui est
de l'ordre de l'autonomie
ou de l'independance. En
effet, alors qu'aucune
stimulation exterieure
n'ait lieu, le cerveau
humain montre des
activites spontanees qui
s'expriment sous forme de
patterns fixes. La
seconde est le principe
d'<> des
gestes ou des phrases
avec le fonctionnement
des neurones miroirs :
l'homme apprend en
imitant les gestes des
autres, c'est la source
d'emotions comme la
compassion ou la
sympathie. La troisieme
est liee a
l'apprentissage spontane
et l'auto-renouvellement
du cerveau, faculte qui
le differencie
singulierement de
l'ordinateur. Enfin la
conscience du <>,
qui est ce qui le
differencie du cerveau de
l'animal. J'ai trouve
dans la forme classique
et austere du quatuor un
terrain d'exploration
ideal pour elaborer ce
projet musical. Le
quatuor est en effet
compose des quatre
cerveaux des musiciens,
mais il est egalement une
entite a part entiere, un
centre nevralgique
unitaire. L'ecriture
musicale procede ainsi
par imitation, sur une
base de patterns qui
varie constamment dans
une quete identitaire et
dans son rapport a
l'autre et aux autres
(musiciens). L'autre,
c'est egalement
l'autiste, celui qui
n'arrive pas bien a
imiter et a comprendre
les expressions, emotions
et gestes exterieurs. La
question des rapports
devient alors celle de la
dependance, de
l'independance et/ou de
l'interdependance. Elle
est au centre de mon
processus compositionnel
qui, par l'organisation
et la sonification des
comportements aux
differentes voix du
quatuor, est egalement un
moyen de me questionner
en tant que compositrice,
sur mon identite et sur
mon propre rapport au
monde. (Misato
Mochizuki)
World
premiere: Paris (Festival
,,Presences), February
13, 2017 (Quatuor
Diotima) Commissioned by
Radio France.
This product
includes the score and
the parts (A4 sized).
American-Finn
ish composer Alex Freeman
(b.1972) has established
himself among the
foremost composers of
choral music in Finland.
A dedicated citizen of
his musical community, a
teacher, and a choral
singer himself, he
composes music that
reflects an appreciation
for a wide range of
aesthetics and a passion
for communicating with
listeners and performers.
In his choral works, in
particular, we find music
that aims to be sonorous,
melodic, and resonant,
but is always crafted to
carefully avoid the
cliches that can burden
conventional tonality.
His instrumental
works run the gamut: a
cantata with orchestra
based on poetry of
Whitman; a significant
body of solo piano works
that reveal deep roots in
everything from austere
absolute music to soaring
elegaic rhetoric (see
Albany Records, Inner
Voice); his chamber work
Blueshift (Navona
Records), which is a kind
of paean to Reich and
Adams in miniature;
open-ended modular works,
like various iterations
of his Slow All Clocks
for electronic media,
solo clarinet, and mixed
choirs of kanteles; and,
recently, some new
directions in microtonal
music.
Quartet Sant Petersburg Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle Editorial de Musica Boileau
String quartet SKU: BO.B.3664 Composed by Jordi Cervello. Published by Ed...(+)
String quartet
SKU:
BO.B.3664
Composed by
Jordi Cervello. Published
by Editorial de Musica
Boileau (BO.B.3664).
Cuarteto San
Petersburgo (The Saint
Petersburg Quartet) was
written between January
and March 2011. It owes
its name to the fact that
Saint Petersburg has been
a very significant city
for me. I was invited
there in 1988 to take
part in a big
contemporary music
festival, but my
uninterrupted bond with
the city started on 2002,
thanks to the
negotiations of my friend
and pupil Albert Barbeta.
Since then, I have
constantly travelled
there in order to record
a considerable part of my
repertoire: seventeen
pieces. In addition to
the concerts we went to,
I took the opportunity
during my trips to visit
the well-known
conservatoire where so
many great personalities
from the world of music
composition once taught,
and the place that
launched the most
important violin school
in the whole of Russia:
the school of Leopoldo
Auer. Spending a long
time in Auer's classroom
writing my concert for
violin and orchestra was
an unforgettable
experience for me. His
large portrait motivated
me even
further.
Cuartet
o San Petersburgo evokes
many of the most
cherished and moving
moments that I have had
in this city. It is
structured in four
movements. The first one,
Allegretto-Allegro, opens
with an introduction that
sets forth the two main
themes, amid a soft and
elastic atmosphere. The
Allegro starts vigorously
and in it we find changes
in the tempo and moments
of mystery, as well as
certain seclusion,
returning then to the
emphatic theme where the
counterpoint finds its
place. The movement ends
placidly.
The
Scherzo-marcato that
follows is marked by a
persistent rhythm of
triplets that carries on
from beginning to end.
The tempo does not
change, but brief and
decided themes are
introduced, as well as
passages of counterpoint.
Brief and dissonant
chords are heard
throughout the movement,
which ends
vigorously.
The
third movement, Ut, is a
very special one. For a
while already I had been
playing with the idea of
writing a movement that
was to have the tonality
C as a leitmotiv. This
one is made up by two
slow and static parts. In
the first one, the first
violin plays
pizzicatti-glissandi. In
the second, the first
violin and particularly
the violoncello settle on
C while the other two
instruments produce
descending chromatic
harmonies.
Final
ly, the
Introduccion-Presto (the
Introduction-Presto). It
starts with some bucolic
passages which remind us
of the introduction to
the first movement. A
fast and energetic Presto
suddenly erupts. A kind
of moto perpetuo which
alternates with two
expressive passages and,
towards the end, a viola
and violoncello tremolo,
all of great mystery and
expectation, make way for
a resounding finale
marcato.