SKU: BR.EB-8939

ISBN 9790004186084.

With his first String Quartet in D minor, op. 77, composed in 1855, the native Swiss composer Joachim Raff bid a brilliant farewell to Weimar. He had been there as Franz Liszt's assistant since 1850 and had made a name for himself in the city's art scene - now he embarked on new paths. He composed his second Quartet in A major, op. 90, already in 1857 in Wiesbaden, the spa town that was to become his home for 21 years. The two quartets are unequivocal works: orchestrally-conceived, full of energetic vigor, and at times uncompromisingly modern. They confidently continue the Beethoven tradition and attest at the same time to Raff's intensive confrontation with Richard Wagner's music during the Weimar years. In his chamber music, the composer wanted to achieve progress in an inherently historical way and to ground the individual substance in existing forms, as he told the Viennese violinist Josef Hellmesberger, who launched opus 77. The quartets, first published in 1860/62, found illustrious interpreters, among them, the Muller brothers' renowned ensemble, to which opus 90 was also dedicated, and Joseph Joachim.In collaboration with the Joachim-Raff-Archiv Lachen (CH)

Some eighteen years elapsed between Raff's first counted String Quartet op. 77 and his Quartets Nos. 6-8 op. 192, combined as one work. As such, Raff parted with the weighty single opus in quartet composition - without, however, sacrificing musical quality.

SKU: FG.55011-574-3

ISBN 9790550115743.

Kalevi Aho (b.1949) was only 18 years old when he completed his String Quartet no. 1 in g minor (1967). Nonetheless it was already the second one of its kind: the earlier string quartet in a minor got christened String Quartet No. 0 and banned from performing. The g minor quartet was heard the first time only 50 years after it was born, when the Kamus Quartet premiered it at the Musica Kalevi Aho Festival in Forssa on June 28, 2019. In Aho's home town, Forssa, it was not possible to study composition with a teacher: My model in this and the other works I composed while I was at school was all the mostly tonal music I had personally played on the violin or heard on the radio. The first movement, Moderato, begins in variation form, until followed by a fugue based on the variation theme. The initially lyrical second movement has a quick, virtuosic and light middle section. The third movement is a very quick scherzo that becomes dramatic, and the work ends with a chorale-like finale. The composer tells: When I got to study composition at the Sibelius Academy in autumn 1968 and showed the quartet to my teacher, Einojuhani Rautavaara, he said there was no point my studying tonal harmony and tonal formal constructions any longer; that I could do the exams in them straight away and start the courses in modern music resources there and then..

SKU: AP.36-M199201

ISBN 9781638873228. UPC: 735816135492. English.

A wonderful and practical collection of wedding music arranged for string quartet. Contains the standard wedding favorites such as Wagner's "Bridal Chorus" and Purcell's "Trumpet Tune."  Titles included: 1. Bridal Chorus (Wagner)  2. Trumpet Tune (Purcell)  3. Allelujah (Mozart)  4. Where'er You Walk (Handel)  5. Adagio (Mendelssohn)  6. Meditation (Massenet)  7. The Ring on my Finger (Schumann)  8. Ave Maria (Bach/Gounod).

These products are currently being prepared by a new publisher. While many items are ready and will ship on time, some others may see delays of several months.

SKU: HL.49008206

ISBN 9790001124003. UPC: 073999655742. 9.0x12.0x0.34 inches.

With serious string players this Latvian composer has long been recognized because of his sonorous tonal concepts and his modal, occasionally aleatoric idiom. Works like 'Cantabile per Archi' or 'Musica dolorosa' are already quite well-known, but newer pieces like the violin concerto with string orchestra 'Fernes Licht', commissioned by Gidon Kremer for his Kremerata Baltica, are also gaining wide international exposure. The genre of the string quartet is well represented in Vasks' output. The 2nd string quartet 'Summer Tunes' (ED 8512) has been published for some time and the 3rd was premiered by the Kronos Quartet who were so enthused that they commissioned a 4th quartet. In 1996, prompted by a complete recording of all his string quartets by the Miami String Quartet for Conifer Records Vasks totally revised his early 1st string quartet 1996, it is here presented for the first time in a printed edition.

SKU: AP.36-52703114

ISBN 9781628763676. UPC: 660355003110. English.

Bach's famous Brandenburg Concertos are considered by many to be the pinnacle of the Baroque Concerto Grosso style. These arrangements of the Brandenburgs for string quartet by Lynne Latham have become much-used by professionals and students alike.

These products are currently being prepared by a new publisher. While many items are ready and will ship on time, some others may see delays of several months.