Born in South Africa, but now an Irish citizen, Kevin Volans' musical idiom has been shaped by an unusually diverse range of experiences, including studies with Stockhausen in Cologne, field trips to South Africa to study traditional music, his own involvement with the New Simplicity movement, his collection of contemporary art and African textiles, friendships with composers like Morton Feldman and Gerald Barry, as well as a love of virtuoso piano music which he performs, broadcasts and records. While having an easily recognised, unique voice, Volans' music resists compartmentalisation. He is as comfortable working in conventional genres as embarking on innovative collaborations with artists of other disciplines.String Quartet #1 (White Man Sleeps) was written for the Kronos Quartet and was first performed by them in July 1986, London.The title 'White Man Sleeps' comes from a moment in nyanga Panpipe music where the performers leave off playing their loud pipes for a few cycles and dance only to the sound of their ankle rattles, to let the white landowner sleep - for a minute or two.'In composing this piece I drew from the following sources: the first movement owes something to the style of Basotho concertina music - the second and fourth movements are drawn from traditional Nyungwe music played by Makina Chirenje and his Nyanga panpipe group at Nsava, Tete, Mozambique, recorded and transcribed by Andrew Tracey (to be found in an article entitled 'The nyanga Panpipe dance' in African Music, Vol.5, #1 (1971) - the third movement derives from the San bow music (recorded by Tony Traill of the University of Witwatersrand) and from Basotho lesiba music, transcribed by myself - in the fifth movement I added my own invented folklore. My approach to the original music was anything but purist - it is played in Western tuning, filtered, slowed down by a few 'time-octaves?, cast into non-African metres (like the 13-beat pattern of the first dance) and redistributed between the players in several ways. I also used interlocking techniques where they were absent in the original models and vice versa' - Kevin VolansDuration 24 minutes. Parts available: CH61205. / Quatuor A Cordes (Conducteur)

Par PART ARVO. 'I have developed a highly formalised compositional system, which I have been using to write my music for twenty years. Summa is the most strict and enigmatic work in this series', said Arvo Pärt in 1994. The neutral title itself embodies the essence of the content as the work is based on the text of the Latin Credo. The great simplicity of the piece masks its complexity. The underlying rules ensure that on the surface a cycle of continuous change is created while the deep structure possesses an order of stillness. (Saale Kareda) Originally written for four a cappella voices in 1977, the string quartet version dates from 1991./ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

'Originally written for a suite called Silver Poetry, a Suite on Australian Images, for German flautist Christiane Meininger, whose specially designed flute bears that name ('Poesie in Silber?), this short piece was composed on the day I went for a walk in Russell Falls in Tasmania, and I encountered the small pink breasted robin, a rare tiny and very pretty bird. It had such a charming aura about it as well as something very theatrical in the way it just took off in a flash. This piece has something of a circus character.? Elena Kats-Chernin / Quatuor A Cordes

Music Of Our Time. Par BRYARS GAVIN. “Apart from the ten 5-minute string quartets that I wrote in 1992 as the original version of A Man in a Room, Gambling, there are 8 years between my second and third quartets. Another element which finds its way into the quartet comes from my work with groups from the world of early music, particularly from the experience of writing for a consort of viols …. In several places I ask for little or no vibrato from the strings, occasionally preferring open strings and natural harmonics to stopped notes.”/ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

Although Schumann's first attempts at composing for this supreme form of chamber music in 1838/39 were only fragments, the three String Quartets op. 41 in a minor, F major and A major were written in one go in June/July 1842. At the first private performances the audience was enthusiastic and it was Mendelssohn's praise in particular that occasioned Schumann to dedicate the new works to him. The composer wrote to his publisher in an appropriately confident manner: 'Be assured, I have spared no pains in creating something very decent, indeed I sometimes think it is my best?. As is generally known, today Schumann's Opus 41 forms part of the core repertoire for quartet players. / Quatuor A Cordes

Under a Ginkgo Tree in Tiergarden. Par KOSKINEN JUHA T.. Juha T. Koskinen (b. 1972) tells about his String quartet no. 2: 'Second string quartet (2014) is connected to great changes in my personal life. A few months after the score was finished, I became a father. The musical key moment is found at the very end of the work; Holy Night allusions are embedded to the finale of the work - con tenerezza, with ten-derness.' Duration: c. 14' This product includes the score and the parts. / Date parution : 2022-12-12/ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes