Commissioned by the BBC and premiered by the Dartington String Quartet. Parts available: SOS00998

Though conceived as four separate movements my second string quartet has a single motif which is common to them all. This is the three-note 'Muss es sein?' from Beethoven's last quartet Op. 135. But whereas Beethoven's theme is notated G E A flat thus giving it an F minor connotation I have sued an alternative spelling - G E G sharp - which suggests an ambiguous E minor-major. This ambiguity in fact becomes the tonal basis of the whole work only to be resolved at the end of the final movement.Each movement begins with a variant of the basic motif on the cello. The first has the original form of the theme while the second has a 'majorised' version which is alsoexpressed as a chord. The third movement with its 'scherzoid' middle section reverts to the major-minor ambiguity of the first and the finale begins with the 'majorised' version as an ostinato accompaniment on pizzicato cello.The slow movement is sub-titled 'In memoriam DSCH' and concludes with a quotation of Shostakovich's motto - D E flat C B - which is basically the same as Beethoven's with the addition of one note.This is not to imply that the work contains no other thematic material. One important theme a rising fifth and a second is also common to three of the movements and is ultimately derived from my first quartet Op. 1 of 27 years earlier to which this second contribution to the form is in many ways like a sequel. Like the earlier work too this quartet is dedicated to my wife.

A selection of Christmas pieces by composers ranging from Handel and Bach to Brahms and Tchaikovsky all presented in full score and parts for String Quartet.

This quartet lasts about nine minutes. Composed in April 1996 it is dedicated to the memory of Nicola's father William LeFanu (1904-1995) and Elizabeth Maconchy (1907-1994). The quartet was commissioned for the 1997 London International String Quartet Competition.

8 Evergreens für Streicher-Popular classics brilliantly arranged for string quartet. Perfect light repertoire for weddings busking concerts or just for fun.Air (Bach)Leaning on a Lamp-post (Gay)Maria (Bernstein)Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (Sherwin)Rondo alla Turca (Mozart)Slavonic Dance 8 (Dvorak)Träumerei (Schumann)Waltz Op12 (Grieg)

Mit über 1.200 Titeln aus Orchester- und Chorliteratur Kammermusik und Musiktheater ist die Edition Eulenburg die größte Partiturreihe der Welt. Sie deckt einen große Teil der Musikgeschichte vom Barock bis zur klassischen Moderne ab und blickt auf eine lange Tradition zurück.

This second of Peng-Peng Gong's Chamber Tone Poems is a 9-minute ballade that unifies the structural intensity of the classical era but with ethnomusical approach that spans from the most luscious lyricism to the wildest dances. (2011)

Study score to Bent Sørensen's Adieu for String Quartet (1986).The slow choral-like music which initiates 'Adieu' was the result of an image or almost a dream that I had. Without being able to explain why I imagined a procession of people maybe medieval monks wearing large gray mantles with Ku-Klux-Klan-like white cowls on their heads something like a funeral procession. The title Adieu is partly a comment on this funeral procession but also used because the piece is split up by three slow-ascending glissandi a kind of 'farewell glissandi' which removes the intervening music. The first absorbing glissando is soft and removes both the slow funeral choral andthe agitating figures in the first half of the piece. The second glissando is given only to the cello and crawls out from the elegiac melodies in the middle part. The third and 'final' glissando is intense and agitating and prepares the way for the end of the piece. This end primarily deals with the relationship fast - slow. This relationship is turned topsy turvy: the music gets faster and faster until it is so fast that it suddenly becomes slow so slow in fact that it is very quickly able to become extremely fast again.Bent Sørensen

For String Quartet.Published 1984-5.Commissioned by Wolfson College Oxford with funds from Southern Arts.First performance: the Fairfield Quartet Wolfson College Oxford 2nd March 1985.Studyscore.

Score and parts of the second string quartet written in A major from Joseph Jongen Op.50.