Composed by Christian Mason. World premiere: Paris, Cite de la musique, Januar...(+)
Composed by Christian
Mason.
World premiere: Paris,
Cite
de la musique, January
14,
2020. Breitkopf and
Haertel
#EB 9377. Published by
Breitkopf and Haertel
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.
Harbor Music Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle [Conducteur] 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.
The Gift of Love Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle [Set de Parties séparées] Hope Publishing Company
(Keys of A and G). Arranged by Hal H. Hopson. For violin I and II, viola and cel...(+)
(Keys of A and G).
Arranged by Hal H.
Hopson. For violin I and
II, viola and cello.
Hope's All-Time Best
Selling Choral Series.
Wedding, Love, Hymntune,
Children, General,
Sacred. String Quartet
Parts (Keys of A and G).
Published by Hope
Publishing Company
Composed
by Leos Janacek. Edited
by Leoš Faltus and
Miloš Štedron. This
edition: complete
edition, urtext edition.
Linen. Complete Critical
Edition of the Works of
Leos Janacek E/4.
Complete edition, Score,
Set of parts. Composed
1928. No. 2. Duration 26
minutes. Baerenreiter
Verlag #BA06857_00.
Published by Baerenreiter
Verlag (BA.BA06857).
ISBN 9790260100503.
34.3 x 27 cm
inches.
Janácek
€™s 2nd String
Quartet, “Intimate
Lettersâ€, is
regarded as a highlight
of the modern string
quartet literature. It
was written during the
composer’s last
year of life, between 29
January and 19 February
1928, inspired by the
ageing
Janácek’s
exceptional love for
Kamila Stösslová.
The Moravian Quartet
devoted themselves to
this impressive work;
Janácek attended a
total of three of their
rehearsals in May and
June 1928. This had
several consequences,
including his abandoning
his original idea of
using a viola
d’amore.
Af
ter Janácek’s
unexpected death (12
August 1928) the
uncertain genesis of the
work became the greatest
problem of the
“Intimate
Lettersâ€: the
surviving copies were not
definitively
authorised.
The
editors of this new
edition have reverted to
Janácek’s
autograph sketches as the
main, most reliable
source and using these as
a basis, have
reconstructed the work as
it stood at the point of
Janácek’s
death.
The musical
text therefore contains
clear differences in
comparison with older
editions.
About
Barenreiter
Urtext
What can I
expect from a Barenreiter
Urtext
edition?<
/p>
MUSICOLOGICA
LLY SOUND - A
reliable musical text
based on all available
sources - A
description of the
sources -
Information on the
genesis and history of
the work - Valuable
notes on performance
practice - Includes
an introduction with
critical commentary
explaining source
discrepancies and
editorial decisions
... AND
PRACTICAL -
Page-turns, fold-out
pages, and cues where you
need them - A
well-presented layout and
a user-friendly
format - Excellent
print quality -
Superior paper and
binding
3rd
string quartet.
Composed by Joerg
Widmann. This edition:
Saddle stitching. Sheet
music. Edition Schott.
Score and parts. Composed
2003. 112 pages. Duration
12'. Schott Music
#ED9749. Published by
Schott Music
(HL.49033270).
ISBN
9790001136860.
9.25x12.0x0.3
inches.
The
Jagdquartett (Hunt
Quartet), which Jorg
Widmann wrote as his
third string quartet in
2003, following the
Choralquartett, also
begins with a visible
gesture. After a short
signal cry from the
performers, the piece
starts by quoting Robert
Schumann's Papillons op.
2, and for its full
duration retains this
gesture, these starting
sounds. The degrees of
recognizability do change
continuously, to be sure,
in the furious, racing
organism of the score.
The contours change into
forms on another level,
yet now and then the
begining material returns
clearly to the fore,
initiated anew by a cry
from the performers, and
is then digested or
mutated as a rhythmic
study into a field of
harmonic experimentation.
On rare occasions, there
are moments of pause - as
though the musicians were
testing the atmosphere,
as though they were
sensing the weather, so
as ultimately to continue
playing the quartet
across the fields an
forests of notes. A hunt
after joyful performance,
a chase, the whip
cracking, after the thing
to be shot, the sound,
its performer, perhaps
the composer himself? - A
last shout, morendo, dal
niente... - The victim is
not the audience, at any
rate.When comparing the
output of string quartets
from the 18th century to
thetime of Schumann, it
appears to have dropped
considerably. Schumann
composed only three
complete quartets, all of
them in the so-called
'chamber music year'
1842. Jorg Widmann, who
counts Robert Schumann
among his greatest
inspirations, finished a
series of five string
quartets in 2005, at the
same age as Schumann. The
quartets in the cycle
form in themselves the
characters of the
movements of the
classical quartet.
Jagdquartett represents
the fast middle movement,
the scherzo. Widmann's
work appears rough and
wild in the style of
Schumann's alter ego
Florestan. His hunt
begins in the tempo of
'allegro vivace assai'
with the final theme of
Schumann's Papillons
which often appears or is
cited in many of
Schumann's compositions.
Widmann eventually
dismantles the thematic
material of his fierce
quartet, thus
skeletonising his
prey.
Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: PR.114422680 Spring Outing. Comp...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.114422680
Spring Outing.
Composed by Chen Yi. Set
of Score and Parts.
8+2+2+2+1 pages. Duration
5 minutes. Theodore
Presser Company
#114-42268. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.114422680).
ISBN
9781491136041. UPC:
680160688197.
TACHU
N (SPRING OUTING) was
composed in 2021 for
“The Joy
Project,†to
commission uplifting
works for performance at
free outdoor concerts in
the San Francisco Bay
region. The work’s
title comes from the
annual Chinese festival
when people go outdoors
and travel, to welcome
the arrival of the new
Spring season. This
cheerful 5-minute work
features energetic
melodic lines in unison,
contrasting with vivid
rhythmic patterns, which
the composer indicates as
expressing our excitement
upon breathing the fresh
Spring air. Tachun
(Spring Outing) was
commissioned by and
dedicated to the Del Sol
String Quartet as a part
of The Joy Project in
2021. Tachun is also the
name of a Chinese
traditional festival when
people go outdoors and
travel, to welcome the
arrival of the new spring
season each year. Here is
a statement from the Del
Sol String Quartet about
this project:“Del
Sol has commissioned a
body of short musical
works written to give
joy. As our gift to our
community during these
times, we are performing
these pieces in numerous
free concerts at public
settings around the Bay
Area — parks,
schoolyards, open spaces
— where people can
soak up some musical
“joy†while
safely practicing social
distancing in the open
air.â€My string
quartet has active
melodic lines in unison,
contrasting with vivid
rhythmic patterns, to
express our excitement
when we breathe the fresh
air.
String Quartet No. 2 Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle Carl Fischer
Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: CF.CY3256 Composed by Daniel Godfrey. C...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
CF.CY3256
Composed by
Daniel Godfrey.
Contemporary. Set of
Score and Parts. With
Standard notation.
Composed 1974.
59+26+26+26+26 pages.
Duration 16 minutes. Carl
Fischer Music #CY3256.
Published by Carl Fischer
Music (CF.CY3256).
ISBN 9780825881947.
UPC: 798408081942. 8.5x11
inches.
Reviewers,
trying to find a label
for Godfrey's music, will
compare him to Debussy,
Ravel, Stravinsky, even
Barber, using words such
as lyrical, lush, and
always tonal and melodic.
2004 saw the release of
an all-Godfrey CD,
including String Quartet
No. 2, by the Cassatt
String Quartet, an album
that the New Yorker
hailed as one of the 10
best of that year.
Formerly available only
on a rental basis, String
Quartet No. 2 is now
available for sale. Real
sensual warmth, with a
touch of the sensibility
of Schoenberg's
Transfigured NightÃ
These very touching works
are completely tonal and
basically pick up from
the point where music was
derailed some four score
years ago... It is
remarkable that music
like this is being
written, recorded, and
widely celebrated. Robert
Reilly, Surprised by
Beauty: A Listener's
Guide to the Recovery of
Modern Music (Ignatius
Press).