String Quartet No. 1 (1933)

King Kong's Love Song-Sadie Harrison's Squish! (King Kong's Love Song) for String Quartet. Composed and published 2016. Dedicated to Cuatro Puntos and The American School for the Deaf. Squish! is a love story King Kong’s love story. But not the conventional one immortalised in the 1933 Hollywood film - the terrifying giant ape astride the Empire State Building who clasps the fainting heroine while swiping hopelessly at the planes which eventually send him crashing dead to the ground. This is the American Sign Language (ASL) version which has something of a twist at the end. Squish! was written asComposer-in-Residence with Cuatro Puntos and was commissioned with funds from the Connecticut Office of the Arts. The premiere took place at the American School for the Deaf (the oldest permanent school for the deaf in the United States founded in 1817) in West Hartford Connecticut on 7th December 2016.

La durée de vie de Josef Suk (1874-1935), le célèbre compositeur et violoniste professionnel, a été fortement influencé par son appartenance à la célèbre 'Quatuor tchèque' (fondée en 1892). Suk faisait partie du quatuor jusqu'en 1933, se produisant dans près de quatre mille concerts.Le Quatuor à cordes n o 1 en si bémol majeur op. 11 (1896) est la première composition aux côtés de l'op Serenade. 6, qui a été publié par Simrock à la suite de la médiation par Suk père-frère, Antonín Dvorák. Dvorák a examiné ce travail du jeune musicien à être 'le meilleur que je connaisse de lui.' Suk a réécrit le quatrième mouvement, vingt ans après son achèvement, parce qu'il n'était pas satisfait de la version originale. En dépit de son utilisation du même matériau thématique, la nouvelle version se distingue donc nettement que ce mouvement est souvent effectué sur lui-même.La principale source de la forme originale du quatuor était la deuxième édition de Simrock. Pour la version alternative de la Finale de la présente édition est basée sur une partition et les parties marquées avec des corrections Suk.- Avec une préface commentaires (Cz / Eng / Ger) et critique (Eng)- Comprend également la dernière version du quatrième mouvement de 1915 / 2 Violons, Alto Et Violoncelle

La durée de vie de Josef Suk (1874-1935), le célèbre compositeur et violoniste professionnel, a été fortement influencé par son appartenance à la célèbre 'Quatuor tchèque' (fondée en 1892). Suk faisait partie du quatuor jusqu'en 1933, se produisant dans près de quatre mille concerts.Le Quatuor à cordes n o 1 en si bémol majeur op. 11 (1896) est la première composition aux côtés de l'op Serenade. 6, qui a été publié par Simrock à la suite de la médiation par Suk père-frère, Antonín Dvorák. Dvorák a examiné ce travail du jeune musicien à être 'le meilleur que je connaisse de lui.' Suk a réécrit le quatrième mouvement, vingt ans après son achèvement, parce qu'il n'était pas satisfait de la version originale. En dépit de son utilisation du même matériau thématique, la nouvelle version se distingue donc nettement que ce mouvement est souvent effectué sur lui-même.La principale source de la forme originale du quatuor était la deuxième édition de Simrock. Pour la version alternative de la Finale de la présente édition est basée sur une partition et les parties marquées avec des corrections Suk.- Avec une préface commentaires (Cz / Eng / Ger) et critique (Eng)- Comprend également la dernière version du quatrième mouvement de 1915 / 3 Violons, Alto Et Violoncelle

Britten's Two Portraits for strings - the composer himself called them 'Sketches' - were composed in August and September 1930 during the summer holidays preceding the sixteen-year-old composer's first term at the RoyalCollege of Music in London.Both are musical depictions of character the first portraying Britten's school friend David Layton and the second introducing a solo Viola (Britten's own string instrument) a self-portraitof the composer. According to Britten's diary he planned to compose a third portrait again for strings that was to depict another school friend Peter Floyd but this movement was not written. However David Layton was to beportrayed again though very differently in Britten's later quartet suite Alla Quartetto Serioso (1933) itself revised and re-titled in 1936 as Three Divertimenti.The Pencil manuscript score in theBritten-Pears Library at Aldeburgh although hastily written is very detailed ad dynamics and phrasing are carefully notated throughout. However in several places in the first 'Portrait' the notes themselves are either difficultto decipher or due to the highly chromatic nature of the music difficult to interpret - in some cases Britten has clearly made notational 'spelling' mistakes which have been silently corrected in this editon. A list ofthose places where the reading of the manuscript is doubtful may be obtained from the Britten-Pears Library Aldeburgh.As with virtually all orchestral music from his youth Britten did not hear either 'Portrait'performed. The first performance of Two Portraits was given by the Northern Sinfonia conducted by Martyn Brabbins broadcast by BBC Radio 3 on 5th December 1995 as part of a series entitled 'Britten's Apprenticeship'.The first concert performance of Portrait No.1 was given by the Britten Chamber Orchestra conducted by Andreas Mitisek at the Konzerthaus Schubert-Saal Vienna on 10th February 1996. The first concert performance of

Hans Abrahamsen's Flowersongs (1973) for three Flutes. Parts. 'I wrote Flowersongs for three Flutes in the spring of 1973 when I was 20 years old. Looking back now 40 years begins to feel like a really long time and sometimes I think that it is as if someone in 1973 is talking about a piece from 1933! But in spite of this long time this is still a very important piece for me. In Flowersongs along with works like '10 Preludes' for String Quartet and 'Stratifications' for Orchestra I feel that I was on my way to finding my own voice in the middle of the music of the great Central Europeanmodernist tradition from the 50s and the reaction from the 60s of the new simplicity minimalism and the possibility of poly-stilisme. The English title Flowersongs links to the flower power movement and the hippie culture of the 60s and the early 70s and the work is trying to find the power inherent in this imaginary world. Many of my later works have titles in German for example 'Winternacht' (1976/78) 'Nacht und Trumpeten' (1981) and much later 'Schnee' (2006-08). If we think of Flowersongs in German it must be Blumenlieder and to me it now sounds suddenly very different more romantic and into the world of Schumann. Perhaps it is also a way in which to hear the piece? Another thing is that the correct English title is Flower Songs (as two words) and not as one word like in German or Danish. This is perhaps the German connection as I incorrectly wrote the title as one word; but perhaps it is also a kind of naivety which is also part of the work. I cannot help but carry with me to this day the ideas from my early works. For example there are clear links in this work from the 8th Prelude from '10 Preludes' and to Canon 2a from 'Schnee' from 2008. This work is written for the wonderful ensemble recherche and it was meeting them that made me consider making a version of

Hans Abrahamsen's Flowersongs (2012 version) for Flute Oboe and Clarinet. 'I wrote Flowersongs for three Flutes in the spring of 1973 when I was 20 years old. Looking back now 40 years begins to feel like a really long time and sometimes I think that it is as if someone in 1973 is talking about a piece from 1933! But in spite of this long time this is still a very important piece for me. In Flowersongs along with works like '10 Preludes' for String Quartet and 'Stratifications' for Orchestra I feel that I was on my way to finding my own voice in the middle of the music of the great Central Europeanmodernist tradition from the 50s and the reaction from the 60s of the new simplicity minimalism and the possibility of poly-stilisme. The English title Flowersongs links to the flower power movement and the hippie culture of the 60s and the early 70s and the work is trying to find the power inherent in this imaginary world. Many of my later works have titles in German for example 'Winternacht' (1976/78) 'Nacht und Trumpeten' (1981) and much later 'Schnee' (2006-08). If we think of Flowersongs in German it must be Blumenlieder and to me it now sounds suddenly very different more romantic and into the world of Schumann. Perhaps it is also a way in which to hear the piece? Another thing is that the correct English title is Flower Songs (as two words) and not as one word like in German or Danish. This is perhaps the German connection as I incorrectly wrote the title as one word; but perhaps it is also a kind of naivety which is also part of the work. I cannot help but carry with me to this day the ideas from my early works. For example there are clear links in this work from the 8th Prelude from '10 Preludes' and to Canon 2a from 'Schnee' from 2008. This work is written for the wonderful ensemble recherche and it was meeting them that made me consider making a version of