String Sextets

SKU: BR.PB-33002-07

ISBN 9790004216927. 6.5 x 9 inches.

Eduard Franck's two string sextets, op. 41 in E-flat major, published in 1882/84, and op. 50, in D major, completed in December 1884 but published posthumously in 1894, fall mysteriously outside of their era. They are a significant addition to the rather concise repertoire for string sextet, joining the two works in this genre by Johannes Brahms. Eduard Franck was one of the very few private students of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, who was himself a close friend of the Franck family, so that Eduard was firmly rooted in the Mendelssohn tradition. But what is particularly exciting in the sextets, is how he consistently further developed Mendelssohn's immanent genre-defining tendencies, thus founding a conservative alternative to the Schumann-Brahms course.

SKU: BR.EB-32049

ISBN 9790004186473. 9 x 12 inches.

Eduard Franck finished the fair copy of his second string sextet score in December 1884. The piece can thus be described as a typical late work, also evident from its wistful retrospective mood. The sextet's D-major first movement has a concise main theme moving to an expressive secondary theme whereas its final movement is a polyphonic masterpiece: This full, yet transparent movement integrates all the characteristics of the preceding movements in a rhythmically elastic, richly melodic broader context that in the end attains serenity and reconciliation.

SKU: PR.114414290

UPC: 680160594030.

Written for Concertante, a string sextet which has commissioned six different works, each highlighting one of its players. In Ran's new work, the second cellist, Zvi Plesser, was spotlighted with an outgoing, intensely lyrical opening theme, according to a New York Times review. Yet, Lyre of Orpheus never overlooks the collaborative, conversational essence of the ensemble. Read the full review here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/arts/music/18conc.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1286200920-wRrt7MJ416+FpOYAUe/IOQ For advanced performers.
Lyre of Orpheus was composed for Concertante, the New York-based string sextet, for its One Plus Five Project, a three-year, six-composer commissioning project designed to create six string sextets, each featuring one of Concertante’s core players.This particular commission was made with the goal of giving center-stage to the ensemble’s first cello, a choice I was especially grateful for, not only because it features Zvi Plesser, the outstanding Israeli cellist, but also because it gave ma an opportunity to highlight an instrument for which, from a very early stage in my life, I have felt a special affinity.  The cell’s “soul”, so naturally combining passion and lyricism, has always touched me in a special way.As sometimes happens, naming the piece was the final act in the process of creation.  Once titled, though, I found myself looking through the piece with a mixture of delight and astonishment – the narrative of the almost iconic mythological story of love and loss seems as one entirely plausible, and to my mind convincing, way to tract the unfolding of the musical events.  Of course, the music was written with no such tale (or any tale, for that matter) in mind.  But perhaps some stories are emblematic of so much that is part of our lives and psyches, of our desires, fears and wishes.  Orpheus, whose longing for Eurydice recognizes no boundaries of heaven and hell…  Love regained, then forever lost…  Orpheus’ lyre intoning his sorrowful yearning…Lyre of Orpheus, approximately fifteen minutes in length, composed in late 2008, is intermittently songful, caressing, passionate, pained, ferocious, longing.  The instrumentation consists of 2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos, the first of which is the soloist/protagonist, the second notable for having its lowest string tuned down a third to achieve extra lower notes.This commission has been made possible by the Chamber Music America Commissioning Program, with funding generously provided by the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, and the Chamber Music America Endowment Fund.