String Quartet

SKU: BT.PMC4092

For string quartet. Composed by Lou Harrison. Set (Score & Parts). Composed 2015. 40 pages. Peermusic Classical #PMC4092. Published by Peermusic Classical (BT.PMC4092).

A five-movement work whose materials range widely in time and place of origin. String Quartet Set opens with a set of variations on a medieval German song, includes a medieval estampie (stamping dance), and concludes with Usul,which uses a rhythmic mode from Ottoman classical music. Recorded by the Kronos Quartet on New World Records. Lou Harrison's centennial occurs in 2017.

Parts for String Quartet No.3 'Angel's Music' by Bent Sorensen (1988) Premiered by the Arditti String Quartet at the Danish Radio Concert Hall 16 November 1988. Score available: KP00250 The composer writes: 'Even when I was writing Adieu, I knew that I wished to write Angels Music. The title existed in an incomplete form in my mind and gradually more and more ideas and a few outlines became clear. The actual work on Angels Music was started in Rome, where I spent the autumn of 1987 staying at The Danish Academy. Whether this stay has influenced the quartet or not is impossible to say. however, it is true to say that, in the Roman churches I visited, I saw countless angels playing in the top of frescoes and altars. Without these angels, together with the many crackled-gold paintings in this city and my general fascination with the Italian renaissance painter Fra Angelico, (in fact there are only a few paintings by him in Rome, but even his name..!) I am not sure my quartet would have been what it is. Anyway I do feel that there is a bit of Italy in the piece. The angels apart there are, in the short rhythmic agitating part of the quartet, reminiscences of the Italian medieval Trotto dance, and in the most expressive part ofthe piece there are flashes of Puccini-like music. From the very beginning of my work on the quartet, the distant, extremely muted sound in the high register which opens the piece, was on my mind. A sound satiated with a dense heterophonic and polyphonic texture of elegiac melody and vibrating trills. I imagined that little songs (maybe angel songs) could be created in this density, these songs constantly echoing themselves. Gradually as this sound got a more and more concrete musical and instrumental form, I felt, that not only should the little songs be created, played and die out in an echo, but also that the general pattern of the quartet should give the feeling of music which, from the distance, is getting closer and closer, culminates and at last disappears like an echo. Related to this, the general pattern of Angels Music is divided into three: a pre-echo, culmination and echo.. The relationship between the three part is 5: 6: 4. The reason why I can say this precisely and prosaically is that it was necessary to me to mark the overall guidelines before I started to compose. I had to do this in order to enable the relationships to crawl from the small cells into the general pattern.'

Orchestra String Sextet, Piano - Grade 1

SKU: CF.BAS50F

Composed by Bill Calhoun. FS SWS. Carl Fischer Beginning String Orchestra Series. Full score. With Standard notation. 8 pages. Duration 1 minute, 48 seconds. Carl Fischer Music #BAS50F. Published by Carl Fischer Music (CF.BAS50F).

ISBN 9780825883798. UPC: 798408083793. 8.5 x 11 inches.

Antiquitas is sure to become a favorite with your students, taking your imagination back in time with its modal qualities and medieval, dance-like character. Making use of contrasting marcato and legato playing, your students will learn to incorporate these techniques to maximize musicality.

About Carl Fischer Beginning String Orchestra Series

This series of Grade 1 pieces is designed for first year string groups. The pieces in this series are characterized by:

• Limited parts (often 2nd violin and viola are the same part, cello and bass are same part)
• Limited keys and rhythms - only simple 8th note patterns
• Limited independence of parts
• Playable after limited study time
• First position and natural bowings
• Piano for rehearsal and reinforcement

Chamber Music Bass Clarinet, Celesta, Cello, Flute, Mezzo-soprano voice, Oboe, Percussion, Viola, Violin

SKU: CF.FE189S

Composed by Samuel Adler. Large Score. With Standard notation. 41 pages. Duration 10 minutes. Carl Fischer Music #FE189S. Published by Carl Fischer Music (CF.FE189S).

ISBN 9780825877520. UPC: 798408077525. 9.5 x 13 inches.

Nuptial Scene was commissioned by the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra in cooperation with the city of Jerusalem for the celebration of the fourth Testimonium, a festival to preserve Jewish heritage. The work was written in September, 1975, and premiered in Jerusalem in February, 1976, with the Jerusalem Symphony, Juan Pablo Izquierdo conducting, and Adi Etzion as soloist. It is dedicated to Recha Freier, the originator and prime mover of the festival. Nuptial Scene is based on a simple medieval poem of prenuptial instruction. Part of it is in Catalan and part in Hebrew. The poem originated in Catalonia, where a highly developed Jewish community existed until the expulsion of 1492. A mother is instructing her daughter in the ways and strategies of marriage and rejoicing with a new song for a new bride. When I initially planned the setting for this lovely poem, I realized that the age of the daughter would be about twelve, for girls in that historical period were married at puberty. This set in motion a scheme for the composition, since my oldest daughter was thirteen at that time, and I used her psyche to give me direction. When a girl of twelve or thirteen thinks of a wedding, she is completely captivated by its frills -- the dress, the party, the dancing. In her imagination, the reality of a husband or any kind of domestic responsibility would be nonexistent. Therefore, during the mother's ardent pleas, instructions, admonitions, and even innuendos, the daughter's mind wanders and dreams of dancing. Musically, the rather straight, somber rhythm and melody of the song are interrupted by an independent, faster dance speed of the bongos and by scattered fragments of an actual medieval Spanish-Jewish dance. At the point where the mother speaks of sensuous marital problems, she herself becomes excited, and in a nostalgic, dreamlike spirit -- with the use of improvised melodic lines for which only the gestural outlines are given -- she goes into a kind of rapturous trance. The daughter, however, seems unmoved, and she falls asleep. The mother calms down, puts her head on the daughter's shoulder, and quietly muses, then also closes her eyes. --Samuel Adler  .
Nuptial Scene was commissioned by the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra in cooperation with the city of Jerusalem for the celebration of the fourth “Testimonium”, a festival to preserve Jewish heritage.  The work was written in September, 1975, and premiered in Jerusalem in February, 1976, with the Jerusalem Symphony, Juan Pablo Izquierdo conducting, and Adi Etzion as soloist.   It is dedicated to Recha Freier, the originator and prime mover of the festival.Nuptial Scene is based on a simple medieval poem of prenuptial instruction.  Part of it is in Catalan and part in Hebrew.  The poem originated in Catalonia, where a highly developed Jewish community existed until the expulsion of 1492.  A mother is instructing her daughter in the ways and strategies of marriage and rejoicing with a “new song” for a “new bride”.When I initially planned the setting for this lovely poem, I realized that the age of the daughter would be about twelve, for girls in that historical period were married at puberty.  This set in motion a scheme for the composition, since my oldest daughter was thirteen at that time, and I used her psyche to give me direction.  When a girl of twelve or thirteen thinks of a wedding, she is completely captivated by its frills — the dress, the party, the dancing.  In her imagination, the reality of a husband or any kind of domestic responsibility would be nonexistent.  Therefore, during the mother’s ardent pleas, instructions, admonitions, and even innuendos, the daughter’s mind wanders and dreams of dancing.  Musically, the rather straight, somber rhythm and melody of the song are interrupted by an independent, faster dance speed of the bongos and by scattered fragments of an actual medieval Spanish-Jewish dance.  At the point where the mother speaks of sensuous marital problems, she herself becomes excited, and in a nostalgic, dreamlike spirit — with the use of improvised melodic lines for which only the gestural outlines are given — she goes into a kind of rapturous trance.  The daughter, however, seems unmoved, and she falls asleep.  The mother calms down, puts her head on the daughter’s shoulder, and quietly muses, then also closes her eyes.—Samuel Adler .

Orchestra Cello, Contrabass, Piano, Viola, Violin 1, Violin 2, Violin 3 - Grade 2

SKU: CF.YAS68

Composed by Bill Calhoun. FS - SWS. Young String Orchestra. Set of Score and Parts. With Standard notation. 8+5+2+5+8+2+5+8 pages. Carl Fischer Music #YAS68. Published by Carl Fischer Music (CF.YAS68).

ISBN 9780825869464. UPC: 798408069469. 8.5 X 11 inches. Key: A minor.

This original composition from Bill Calhoun has a dark and rich texture in the tradition of medieval music. Meditation and Ritual has a seriousness to it that students will gravitate toward, and is an excellent choice for contest or festival performance.
Meditation and Ritual is composed in the key of A minor and represents two contrasting styles. The first (“Meditation”) is a thought-provoking chorale. Each voice gains prominence through its lyrical quarter-note movement. The use of suspensions to create tension and release are prevalent throughout, which along with its dynamic shading help to create interest within thistender section. “Meditation” reaches its climax at m. 16 before ending with the warmth and emotion in which it began.After a very brief pause “Ritual” begins. Its medieval-sounding theme is characterized by the contrast between short and long (or slurred) articulations and is important to bring to your students’ attention in performance. The dance-like theme is portrayed in both the upper andlower voices and takes some interesting turns harmonically. After reaching a dramatic climax at m. 42, it quickly moves into a return to its opening character. After a brief and quieter move harmonically to C major, it forcefully returns to its original key. A short diminuendo takes the piece into a building flourish of eighth notes in the violins and violas, accompanied by descending quarter notes in the cellos and basses before coming to its dynamic conclusion.

About Carl Fischer Young String Orchestra Series

This series of Grade 2/Grade 2.5 pieces is designed for second and third year ensembles. The pieces in this series are characterized by:
--Occasionally extending to third position
--Keys carefully considered for appropriate difficulty
--Addition of separate 2nd violin and viola parts
--Viola T.C. part included
--Increase in independence of parts over beginning levels