String Reflections 2

Bearbeitung für Streichquartett-This piece reflects Janácek?s memories of childhood and youth in his native Hukvaldy and the Augustinian Abbey in Brno. Kry?tof Maratka a Czech composer resident in France and a great admirer of Janácek has arranged the original version to produce a welcome addition to the string quartet repertoire.Youth for wind sextet is a masterpiece from Janácek?s late period (1924). Maratka has successfully managed to transform the concise winds? sound that give this work its unique flavour into the timbre of the strings thereby creating a ?third string quartet? of the composer.- Janácek?s wind sextet arranged for string quartet- Welcome addition to thestring quartet repertoire- Foreword by the arranger (Cz/Eng/Ger)- Set of parts (BA11543) and study score format 22.5 x 16.5cm (TP521) available for sale

Programme note The spectrum of sound the gesticulation – in short the very nature of the strings – has always had a central place in my output demonstrated by the numbers of string quartets concertos with string soloist chamber and solo works. The interest dates back to my school years when I was fortunate to be able to compose for a cello-playing schoolmate and to accompany him on the piano. I discovered then the innumerable nuances of sound and playing varieties offered by just one bow four strings and five fingers..  The bell-like association if the title reflects the special texture of the work. Like thecontinously changing overtones of a struck resonating bell the four parts are unified through one single basic line broken up in a multitude of changing dynamics of a multifacetted rhythm and resulting in an ever transforming harmony.  The duration of the work is ca 12 minutes.  Per Nørgård (1998)     

Par FREEMAN ALEX. Alex Freeman found initial inspiration for his string quartet (2015) in a series of photographs a geologist friend showed him of en échelon veins in rock formations. The open strings punctuated with pizzicato unisons that begin the single-movement work call to mind something crystalline and shimmering, which is immediately infused with tumbling lyrical lines in something of a rapid caccia technique throughout. The middle of the work becomes more suspended in slower material loosely based on a technique of prolation canon, comprises layers of free, expressive, lyrical, and even elegiac music moving at different speeds. As the work concludes, the materials converge in a rhythmically pulsating stasis and an almost chorale-like statement. Duration: c. 13' This product includes the score and the parts (A4 sized). American-Finnish composer Alex Freeman (b.1972) has established himself among the foremost composers of choral music in Finland. A dedicated citizen of his musical community, a teacher, and a choral singer himself, he composes music that reflects an appreciation for a wide range of aesthetics and a passion for communicating with listeners and performers. In his choral works, in particular, we find music that aims to be sonorous, melodic, and resonant, but is always crafted to carefully avoid the cliches that can burden conventional tonality. His instrumental works run the gamut: a cantata with orchestra based on poetry of Whitman; a significant body of solo piano works that reveal deep roots in everything from austere absolute music to soaring elegaic rhetoric (see Albany Records, Inner Voice); his chamber work Blueshift (Navona Records), which is a kind of paean to Reich and Adams in miniature; open-ended modular works, like various iterations of his Slow All Clocks for electronic media, solo clarinet, and mixed choirs of kanteles; and, recently, some new directions in microtonal music. / Date parution : 2022-05-31/ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

String Quartet Version - Parts)-The composer writes: 'The backdrop for this commission was to complement music by the great Ludwig van Beethoven. Beethoven’s scores for string quartet are cornucopias of techniques and musicality. They were certainly not meant for pure entertainment. Ending up with Beethoven’s quartet Op. 59 No. 1 as a reference for this piece I even used elements from this quartet in my own composition. Beethoven’s position as a free artist has been of great importance to all following composers. This is of equal inspiration as his music. As a free artist one has to reflect upon our own time and not be afraid of allowing reality affect our work. When I was in the middle of writingthis piece something horrible happened in my neighbourhood. A bomb exploded in Oslo and a killer shot teenagers on an island summer camp. My nation’s reputation as a peaceful country to live in was drastically and forever changed. It was hard to compose. Papers and online media were soon filled with horrible pictures from the events. The lead-coloured skies being a recurring sight. The ambiguity in the title reflects both hope and dread. Beethoven’s light shines through strong and full of life! The piece was commissioned by the Engegård Quartet in 2011 and appears the recording String Quartets vol IV: Schubert-Ratkje-Britten-Haydn. A later piece was composed for string orchestra: 'Tale of Lead and Frozen Light' (2014)'. The composer writes: 'The backdrop for this commission was to complement music by the great Ludwig van Beethoven. Beethoven’s scores for string quartet are cornucopias of techniques and musicality. They were certainly not meant for pure entertainment. Ending up with Beethoven’s quartet Op. 59 No. 1 as a reference for this piece I even used elements from this quartet in my own composition. Beethoven’s position as a free artist has been of great importance to all following composers. This is of equal inspiration as his music. As a free artist one has to reflect upon our own time and not be afraid of allowing reality affect our work. When I was in the middle of writingthis piece something horrible happened in my neighbourhood. A bomb exploded in Oslo and a killer shot teenagers on an island summer camp. My nation’s reputation as a peaceful country to live in was drastically and forever changed. It was hard to compose. Papers and online media were soon filled with horrible pictures from the events. The lead-coloured skies being a recurring sight. The ambiguity in the title reflects both hope and dread. Beethoven’s light shines through strong and full of life! The piece was commissioned by the Engegård Quartet in 2011 and appears the recording String Quartets vol IV: Schubert-Ratkje-Britten-Haydn. A later piece was composed for string orchestra: 'Tale of Lead and Frozen Light' (2014)'.

A simple and reflective song And So It Goes is one of Billy Joel's signature songs from his legendary career. This new treatment for strings gives moving flowing and melodic lines for each section. A terrific number for most any program or special occasion.

The composer writes:Pilgrim was inspired it will be no surprise to learn by reading Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress - Vaughan Williams's great opera on the subject had fascinated me from its first performance yet it was a long time before I caught up with this essential item in any well-stocked library of English classics. It made a great impression not least because of its theme of a journey of self-discovery and a rediscovery or renewal of faith. These are ideas which have a strong interest for me not in religious terms but in their application to every aspect of human life (including great journeys) and this piece reflects my response in musical terms to this concern. The tempo of the whole piece which lasts about 18 minutes is basically slow. There are two quick episodes but these act somewhat like the trio sections of a classical scherzo save that the tempo relationships are inverted (the classical trios would have been slower not quicker) and the canvas is much larger being that of a single substantial slow movement. The form of the whole is perhaps fantasia-like rather than having any relationship to classical forms such as sonata or rondo - some motifs and themes are varied as the work develops and the opening chords are of primary importance throughout the work. There has been no attempt to convey any pictorial elements deriving from Bunyan's great book. There is however one feature which upon completion of the score struck me with some force which is that almost all the thematic material is essentially striving upwards - there is a constant upward movement (sometimes over a lengthy period) throughout the work. Pilgrim was commissioned by the Luton Music Club for the Raphael Ensemble with funds provided by the Eastern Arts Board and Bedfordshire County Council and is dedicated to the Luton Music Club. The first performance was given in Luton on February 10th 1997 and followed as part of a joint scheme by performances in the same week at the Music Clubs of Bedford and Leighton Buzzard.

Kevin Volans' String Quartet No. 9: Shiva Dances was commissioned by BBC Radio 3 and first performed by the Smith Quartet at the 2004 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.Kevin Volans (the composer) notes on the piece:In the past I have been interested in trying to go beyond historicism (1970s) beyond style(1980s) and beyond form (1990s) in my work. Looking back over the music of the twentiethcentury I was struck by the fact the nearlyall of it is extremely 'busy' almost cluttered. Italmost seemed that composers felt compelled to look industrious. In the new millennium Ithought it would be interesting to try and eliminate content. I also aspired to movingfrommusic (sound as art) to art (art as sound). This of course has already been done by a numberof composers (many from New York Phil Niblock and La Monte Young to name but two) butit was something I had never tried.AlthoughI found it annoying that the label 'minimalist' was given to my African-based work and fearing this would make the label stick I set out to write a piece which reflected my loveof minimal painting and architecture. The Japanesehave a term 'wabi' meaning 'voluntarypoverty' or 'emptiness' to describe their restrained minimal aesthetic an aesthetic which however pays greatest attention to the quality of material and fine detail. I like to think thatthelack of excessive pitch material in this piece reflects a kind of voluntary poverty.When Shiva is portrayed dancing (as Nataraj) He is depicted in a circle of flames crushing asmall figure the ego underfoot.You get theimpression He dances on the spot not movingaround at all. I like that.The piece is dedicated to Pablo Pascual Cilleruelo.

String Quartet A Minor D 804 Op.29 'Rosamunde'.String Quartet C Minor D 703 'Quartett-Satz' and fragment of the second movement.Set of parts.Also available study score TP304.The New Schubert Edition is a scholarly-critical complete edition reflecting current knowledge of the sources and the latest research findings. It is thus indispensable for the study and authentic performance of Schubert's music.