String Quartets, op. 112, 153

Par SENFTER JOHANNA. The composer Johanna Senfter (1879 1961) from Oppenheim concerned herself with chamber music for strings all her life, even studied violin in Frankfurt herself. Max Reger then gave her lessons in Leipzig, first privately, then in his composition class at the conservatoire and valued her 'extraordinary compositional talent'. The strict teacher more and more became a committed promoter of the works by Johanna Senfter. For a period of 50 years, the composer concerned herself with the string quartet genre, from Quartet No. 1 in D minor Op. 4, composed shortly after the turn of the century, to the sixth and last Quartet in C minor Op. 115 which was performed for the first time in 1960, one year before her death. The Quartet in F sharp minor Op. 28 is her second quartet which was premiered in Darmstadt on 5 November 1922. In this work, as in later works, Senfter combined traditional form models – here Baroque movements like gavotte, saraband, gigue – with expressive, late Romantic musical language. The work, consisting of six short movements, may without doubt be regarded as a valuable addition to the quartet repertoire./ Répertoire / 2 Violons, Alto et Violoncelle

Conducteur Ba 10927 et Ba 10928. Par SAINT-SAENS CAMILLE. Ludwig van Beethoven's overpowering legacy caused many subsequent composers to avoid writing string quartets at all. Saint-Saëns was no exception in this respect and waited until 1899 and 1918 to produce his two contributions to the genre. Couched in classicism, they relate in form and style to early 19th-century French quartets and to a titan of the genre: Joseph Haydn. Saint-Saëns' string quartets appear here for the first time in a scholarly-critical edition. It is also the first edition to contain the original version of the Finale to String Quartet No. 2 in score and parts. An informative Introduction is included in the study score to complete this volume of important French chamber music, based on the Urtext from 'Camille Saint-Saëns - Complete Edition of the Instrumental Works”./ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

Composed during the summer of 1986 Joubert's third quartet is the second in order of composition of three works composed specially for performance this month as part of the celebrations connected with his sixtieth birthday.The quartet is dedicated to Howard Ferguson who was my composition teacher at the Royal Academy of Music from 1947 to 1950.

Plappergeister - String Quartet No. 5 by Thomas Agerfeldt Olesen (2009). Written for Quartetto di Cremona with support fromthe Danish States Arts Foundation Parts available: WH31122A