Garth Knox is one of the most prominent violists of his generation, and as former long-time member of the Arditti Quartet he has developed and maintained a fondness of contemporary music. In the meantime, he gives concerts and teaches courses all over the world.With 'Viola Spaces' he wants to make contemporary playing techniques accessible to advanced players. The pieces, or 'playing spaces', are true concert studies, each of them dealing with specific techniques such as harmonics, pizzicato (with 9 fingers!) or tremolos which are explained in great detail.Another volume with modern playing techniques for two violas and a volume with variations on a piece by the French viola da gamba master Marin Marais for four violas are planned. / 2 Altos

20 Easy to Intermediate Pieces from four Centuries. Par NEUMANN EVA-MARIA (Arr.). Making music in a quartet uniquely nurtures young string players’ musical development, ensemble playing, listening to each other, and intonation. So, what could be more obvious than introducing the scoring of this genre, often referred to as chamber music’s supreme discipline, as early as possible. Indeed, composers have all along advised the classical string quartet’s outstanding compositions, but they are hardly easy to play for beginners. Here, with the present collection, is where Eva-Maria Neumann comes in. The two volumes include A total of 20 easy to intermediate arrangements of pieces from Bach to Bartók, together with specifically composed ones in string-quartet friendly keys - Reading scores and individual parts - additionally, individual part for violin III instead of viola - Tips on warming up, intonation, bowing, fingering, tempos, dynamics, and playing musically - Specific instructions for the individual pieces - Lists of supplementary original literature The pieces are also effective as scored for chorus./ Recueil / Quatuor à Cordes

Score and parts of this splendid Venetian Baroque piece originally for two solo Violins and strings arranged for two Violas with Keyboard accompaniment and edited by Alan Arnold.

10 Fugues For String Quartet Vol. 2-The idea for these arrangements came to me whilst listening to the Hagen Quartet's beautiful recording of the fugues that form part of Haydn's 'Sun Quartets' Op. 20. The spirit and influence of J.S. Bach in particular his Well Tempered Clavier Book II courses through these three miraculous Haydn fugues. Like the viol consort the string quartet suits this kind of composition (the fugue) with all four instruments sufficiently similar in character to each other to match the extraordinary unity and economy of the counterpoint. A string quartet playing Bach fugues is a good example of a harmonious relationship between form andcontent: just as there is a unifying principle behind the construction of the four string instruments so there is (usually) a single theme or subject that unifies the construction of a four-part fugue. Thus the form enacts the content telling you something about the text and message within. Apart from Haydn's and a handful of other composers' wondrous creations there's little fugal writing for string quartet at least in comparison with the abundance of other forms. This was another reason to make these arrangements. The quartet offers a melodic independence impossible to achieve on a single instrument. And I believe the technical and interpretative challenges posed by this repertoire – lightness of sound and rhythmic fluidity for example - will be very valuable to quartets seeking the holy grail: a unified sound. Perhaps the simplest and most compelling reason for this work is that I just love this music more than I can say. These dazzling pieces mostly fast bright and in major keys show Bach at his most playful funny and mischievous composing for an instrument rarely associated with these qualities. And so I'm very happy to offer string quartets these little know fugues written by my favourite composer - a violinist and violist himself but above all a master

Score available: KP30120 The composer writes: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 munks 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 and the agitating figures inthe 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.

Arrangements by Osvaldo Golijov-During the first forty years of Kronos we have tried to expand the range of what an experience of String Quartet music might be. Kronos has been bringing elements from a wider expanse of the world of music into our concerts and recordings. Certain composers have been 'translating' carefully chosen pieces from various cultures allowing Kronos to reflect our evolving interests passions and concerns thereby enlarging the palette of sonic possibilities. Paramount among our 'translator'-arranger-composer has been Osvaldo Golijov. These six pieces originating from Argentina Cuba Hungary Mexico and Portugal here translated and arranged by Osvaldo Golijov havegiven Kronos new words in our vocabulary and new roles to assume within our group and they have taught us new ways of approaching music.- Kronos QuartetEach volume of the Kronos Collection contains scores and performance parts for works commissioned by the non-profit Kronos Performing Arts Association for the Kronos Quartet a group celebrated for its fearless exploration and commitment to expanding the repertoire of the String Quartet.This publication has been released in conjunction with the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Kronos Quartet.This volume contains score and parts.

Paul Paradise has selected and edited 26 beautiful Strauss waltzes specifically for string quartet or string orchestra. The pieces were chosen to provide each player with a meaningful part, and have been assembled according to level of difficulty and edited with contemporary fingerings and bowings. Contents are: Tales from the Vienna Woods, Op. 325 -- Waltz No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 * Artist's Life, Op. 316 -- Waltz No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 * Wine, Woman, and Song, Op. 333 -- Waltz No. 1, 2, 3, 4 * Viennese Blood, Op. 354 -- Waltz No. 1, 2, 3, 4, Coda * Emperor Waltz, Op. 437 -- Waltz No. 1, 2, 3, 4.