String Quartet No. 4 "chaconne" - Score And Parts

SKU: HL.49045639

ISBN 9781540004796. UPC: 888680710774. 9.5x12.0x0.37 inches.

Chaconne (2016), for string quartet, was commissioned by the Daedalus Quartet to celebrate its 15th anniversary. The commission was supported by New Music USA, made possible by annual program support and/or endowment gifts from Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Helen F. Whitaker Fund, and Aaron Copland Fund for Music.My music has a substantial history with Daedalus. I composed the Third String Quartet (2008) for them, and subsequently they performed my three string quartets on several occasions and recorded them brilliantly on Bridge Records (Bridge 9352: Music of Fred Lerdahl, vol. 3). Chaconne is in one movement lasting 19 minutes. It is effectively my fourth string quartet. Quartets 1-3 form a unified cycle lasting 70 minutes. When I finished the cycle, I thought I would never write again for the medium; yet I could not resist the opportunity of working again with Daedalus. The issue was how to compose another string quartet unrelated to the earlier cycle. The solution came from my solo cello piece There and Back Again (2010), which was based on a four-bar variation pattern from a 17th-century chaconne. Unlike the asymmetrical phrases and expanding variations of much of my music, the chaconne form requires symmetrical phrases and strictly periodic variations. I wished to work again with these symmetries but on a larger scale. Chaconne also differs in character and expression from the three-quartet cycle. The cycle is inward and intense, a kind of psychological excavation. Chaconne is, for the most part, transparent and playful. Many of its textures emerge from little canons, not completely unlike the rounds that children sing. Any composer who writes in chaconne form (one thinks above all of the last movement of Bach's D minor violin partita and the finale of Brahms's Fourth Symphony) is confronted with the challenge of how to create a larger form out of a constantly repeating pattern.My Chaconne grows from paired antecedent-consequent phrases, each variation lasting eight bars. The 50 variations group into three large rotations, forming three arcs of tension and relaxation, with subtle parallel connections across the rotations. Notwithstanding my attraction to chaconne form, I purposefully disguised its symmetries and periodicities in order to build an overall dramatic shape. Fred Lerdahl.

SKU: HL.49044143

ISBN 9790001187237.

...c alled dusk II for string quartet draws its inspiration from a line in Samuel Beckett's short story Lessness: 'Figment dawn dispeller of figments and the other called dusk'.The work is a kind of double Chaconne, each part of which contains 26 chords based on specific permutations of fundamental notes and their harmonics. Each of the parts pass through alternating, harmonically contrasted planes, becoming entwined in the manner of a chimera through their rhythmic structure and dynamics. This intermittently produces a sort of 'inner voice' which runs through all four instruments. The fundamental notes and harmonics separate during the progress of the composition, becoming independent and then disintegrating. The consonant harmony resulting from the amalgamation of the two planes ultimately collapses into a rigid motor-like linearity. Detlev Muller-Siemens.

SKU: GH.GE-11144

ISBN 9790070111447.

For string quartet.

SKU: BT.WHKP01434

English.

SKU: SU.32040150

From delightful to lonesome to fiery, this three movement suite invites both performers and listeners to share the joy of being enveloped in richness of tone, creating poignant expressions of the heart. Marvelous recital and concert music. Vignette I: Delightful Dance Jaunty rhythms and clever surprises render a joyful opening section. Later, a warm, love filled melody is poured out by each instrumentalist, and climbs to a glorious tutti. Then it is back to the joyful dance, a few more surprises, and a delightfully happy ending. Vignette II: Lonesome Chaconne opens with two dark chords. Then the piano begins the chaconne with a mournful bass line and plaintive off beats. The viola enters and plays a lonesome melody, then is joined by the cello in a melancholy duet over the chaconne until it dies away. The cello's brief recitative emerges from the depths into an aching cry that is then echoed by the viola. Joining together, they pour out a fervent melody, moving higher and higher until they breakthrough to the light. Alas, the vision fades, and they return to only fragments as the chaconne disappears. Vignette III: Fiery Fugue opens with a feisty subject melody, first in the viola, followed by the cello, piano right hand, and left hand. It is similar in form to a Bach fugue, but uses modal tonality and syncopated rhythms. The statements and episodes build to a recall of the fervent melody from the second movement, leading to the final dynamic unison statement of the fugue subject. Just as it almost dies away, it recharges and boldly bounds ahead to the end. Difficulty Level: 5 (Advanced) Viola, Cello, Piano Duration: 13'30 Composed: 2016 Published by: Amy Mills Music, LLC See composer website for audio sample.