Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.114410380
Composed
by Lowell Liebermann.
Saddle, Tape Junction.
Set of Score and Parts.
With Standard notation.
Composed 1998. Opus 60.
48 + 92 pages. Duration
30 minutes. Theodore
Presser Company
#114-41038. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.114410380).
UPC:
680160015160. 9.5 x 13
inches.
My second
String Quartet was
written twenty years
after the first, Opus 4
from 1978. The First
Quartet is an obsessively
contrapuntal work in one
movement, which was no
doubt influenced by my
studies with David
Diamond. I had always
intended to return to the
medium once I left the
astringency of my earlier
style, but it was only
when the National
Federation of Music Clubs
commissioned a major
chamber work, with
unspecified
instrumentation, to
celebrate their 100th
Anniversary that I was
enabled to do so. The
Second Quartet is in four
movements: Moderato,
Allegro isterico, an
Andante theme with 11
variations, and the
closing Allegro, which
then returns to the tempo
of the first movement. An
audience member at the
premiere told me that she
heard echoes of recent
tragic events such as the
Oklahoma bombing in this
work. While I had no such
programmatic intent while
writing the quartet, it
was not an entirely
incorrect assessment of
the work's intended
emotional impact. The
quartet is pervaded by a
sense of seriousness,
even mournfulness. The
second movement's scherzo
is an aggressively
animated piece of musical
machinery. The third
movement's Variations
unfold into a greater
variety of moods than the
others - but the moments
of lyricism are countered
by aggressive or ironic
outbursts. The final
movement's attempt at
triumph quickly subsides
into a return of the
first movement, before
being transformed onto a
sense of resignation and
acceptance as the
chromaticism of the
opening theme is
transformed into a pure
and diatonic C-Major. The
work received its world
premiere by the Shanghai
Quartet at the 100th
Anniversary Congress of
the National Federation
of Music Clubs at the
Congress Hotel in Chicago
on August 19th
1998.
My second String
Quartet was written
twenty years after the
first, Opus 4 from
1978. The First
Quartet is an obsessively
contrapuntal work in one
movement, which was no
doubt influenced by my
studies with David
Diamond. I had always
intended to return to the
medium once I left the
astringency of my earlier
style, but it was only
when the National
Federation of Music Clubs
commissioned a major
chamber work, with
unspecified
instrumentation, to
celebrate their 100th
Anniversary that I was
enabled to do so.The
Second Quartet is in four
movements:Â Moderato,
Allegro isterico, an
Andante theme with 11
variations, and the
closing Allegro, which
then returns to the tempo
of the first movement.An
audience member at the
premiere told me that she
heard echoes of recent
tragic events such as the
Oklahoma bombing in this
work. While I had no
such programmatic intent
while writing the
quartet, it was not an
entirely incorrect
assessment of the
work’s intended
emotional impact. The
quartet is pervaded by a
sense of seriousness,
even mournfulness.Â
The second
movement’s scherzo
is an aggressively
animated piece of musical
machinery. The third
movement’s
Variations unfold into a
greater variety of moods
than the others –
but the moments of
lyricism are countered by
aggressive or ironic
outbursts. The final
movement’s attempt
at triumph quickly
subsides into a return of
the first movement,
before being transformed
onto a sense of
resignation and
acceptance as the
chromaticism of the
opening theme is
transformed into a pure
and diatonic C-Major.The
work received its world
premiere by the Shanghai
Quartet at the 100th
Anniversary Congress of
the National Federation
of Music Clubs at the
Congress Hotel in Chicago
on August 19th 1998.
