Par VAUGHAN WILLIAMS RALPH. 'Quartet In C Minor' is in four movements with a total duration of about 25 minutes. The opening Allegro is similar in style to Dvorak in its lyricism, though there is a darker, more brooding atmosphere towards the close. It is tempting to detect a hint of folk-song in the theme of the Andantino, played by the viola, but that may be stretching hindsight too far. The mov…

Par BEETHOVEN LUDWIG VAN. Many anecdotes surround String Quartet op. 131: Beethoven is said to have considered it to be his finest quartet and of his late period works, the one dearest to his heart. It is also believed that the composer invested so much of himself in it: his ailing health, the social isolation brought about by his deafness and the suicide attempt of his nephew Karl. In addition it…

Josef Suk played second violin in the Bohemian String Quartet. Since 1914 the ensemble was obliged to perform the Austrian national anthem at the opening of every concert.Suk decided to supplement this obligatory piece with a work inspired by the ancient sacred Bohemian 'St. Wenceslas? hymn. The hymn's message - a plea for the well-being of the Czech people, directed at their patron saint - was im…

Par BRYARS GAVIN. String Quartet No. 2 was written in 1990 commissioned by the Huddersfield Festival and the Balanescu Quartet. 'This second quartet is a more relaxed, easy-going piece than the first/ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

String Quartet #3 was written for, and first performed by the Balanescu Quartet, February 1990 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. Duration 16 minutes. A score is available on sale.. Quoting composer: In the summer of 1989 I composed a choral work, Out of the Ruins , for Agnieszka Piotrowska's BBC2 documentary which dealt with the physical and emotional responses of some inhabitants of Leninakhan…

Par LEIVISKA HELVI. Finnish composer Helvi Leiviskä (1902-1982) created a broad-based output of orchestral works, solo songs and chamber music. Her style could be described as moderate modernism, deriving influences from multiple sources such as late Romanticism, Symbolism, Expressionism, Existentialism and Neo-Classicism. Leiviskä's output is characterised by philosophical and religious themes, i…

SCHNITTKE - STRING QUARTET NO. 1 - STRING QUARTET / Format poche / Universal Edition

Par BARTOK BELA. Bartók?s Second String Quartet was composed ? with several long interruptions ? between 1915 and 1918, after he had spent several years almost solely devoted to collecting folk music. The melody and rhythms of the riotous middle movement ?Allegro, molto capriccioso? provide impressive testimony of how his research trips had taken him as far as North Africa. The first edition of th…

Par BARTOK BELA. Béla Bartók?s six string quartets, composed between 1908 and 1940, are 20th-century milestones of the genre. His First String Quartet is closely linked to his unhappy love for the violinist Stefi Geyer, to whom he sent the initial measures of its first movement in early 1908 with the remark: ?My song of death?. When he completed all three movements of the work a year later, he had…

Par WEIR JUDITH. “Shortly after completing my Second Quartet, I realised that all of its formal features reminded me of moments from Beethoven’s quartets. An edgy, conversational opening followed by a long cello tune; an athletic minuet and trio; a hymn-like slow movement; and a second scherzo for the finale, ending with an extended, impassioned coda. I hadn’t intended to write a Beethoven homage…