The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet

The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet
Author: Robin Stowell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 672
Release: 2003-11-13
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1139826549

This Companion offers a concise and authoritative survey of the string quartet by eleven chamber music specialists. Its fifteen carefully structured chapters provide coverage of a stimulating range of perspectives previously unavailable in one volume. It focuses on four main areas: the social and musical background to the quartet's development; the most celebrated ensembles; string quartet playing, including aspects of contemporary and historical performing practice; and the mainstream repertory, including significant 'mixed ensemble' compositions involving string quartet. Various musical and pictorial illustrations and informative appendixes, including a chronology of the most significant works, complete this indispensable guide. Written for all string quartet enthusiasts, this Companion will enrich readers' understanding of the history of the genre, the context and significance of quartets as cultural phenomena, and the musical, technical and interpretative problems of chamber music performance. It will also enhance their experience of listening to quartets in performance and on recordings.

The String Quartets of Beethoven

The String Quartets of Beethoven
Author: William Kinderman
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2010-10-01
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0252091620

"We do not understand music--it understands us." This aphorism by Theodor W. Adorno expresses the quandary and the fascination many listeners have felt in approaching Beethoven's late quartets. No group of compositions occupies a more central position in chamber music, yet the meaning of these works continues to stimulate debate. William Kinderman's The String Quartets of Beethoven stands as the most detailed and comprehensive exploration of the subject. It collects new work by leading international scholars who draw on a variety of historical sources and analytical approaches to offer fresh insights into the aesthetics of the quartets, probing expressive and structural features that have hitherto received little attention. This volume also includes an appendix with updated information on the chronology and sources of the quartets and a detailed bibliography.

The Four and the One

The Four and the One
Author: David Rounds
Publisher:
Total Pages: 222
Release: 1999
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

Spotlighting the four women of the Lafayette Quartet, a leading Canadian ensemble, Rounds offers both a comprehensive history of the beloved instrumental form and an inside view of the complex world of professional quartet players, revealing the exultation and heatache that are the performing artists' daily fare. A treat for every music lover, whether player, listener or composer.

The String Quartets of Joseph Haydn

The String Quartets of Joseph Haydn
Author: Floyd Grave
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 393
Release: 2006-03-09
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0199883912

Renowned music historians Floyd and Margaret Grave present a fresh perspective on a comprehensive survey of the works. This thorough and unique analysis offers new insights into the creation of the quartets, the wealth of musical customs and conventions on which they draw, the scope of their innovations, and their significance as reflections of Haydn's artistic personality. Each set of quartets is characterized in terms of its particular mix of structural conventions and novelties, stylistic allusions, and its special points of connection with other opus groups in the series. Throughout the book, the authors draw attention to the boundless supply of compositional strategies by which Haydn appears to be continually rethinking, reevaluating, and refining the quartet's potentials. They also lucidly describe Haydn's famous penchant for wit, humor, and compositional artifice, illuminating the unexpected connections he draws between seemingly unrelated ideas, his irony, and his lightning bolts of surprise and thwarted expectation. Approaching the quartets from a variety of vantage points, the authors correct many prevailing assumptions about convention, innovation, and developing compositional technique in the music of Haydn and his contemporaries.

The String Quartets of Béla Bartók

The String Quartets of Béla Bartók
Author: Daniel Biro
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2014-04
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0199936188

At the centre of Bartók's œuvre are his string quartets, which are generally acknowledged as some of the most significant pieces of 20th century chamber music. This book examines these remarkable works from a range of theoretical and methodological perspectives.

Beethoven for a Later Age

Beethoven for a Later Age
Author: Edward Dusinberre
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Total Pages: 145
Release: 2016-01-19
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0571317154

'They are not for you but for a later age!' Ludwig van Beethoven, on the Opus 59 quartets. Tackling the Beethoven quartets is a rite of passage that has shaped the Takács Quartet's work together for over forty years. Using the history of the composition and first performances of the quartets as the backbone to his story, Edward Dusinberre, first violinist of the Takács since 1993 - recounts the life of the Quartet from its inception in Hungary, through emigration to the US and its present-day life as one of the world's renowned string quartets. He also describes what it was like for him, as a young man fresh out of the Juilliard School, to join the Quartet as its first non-Hungarian member - an exhilarating challenge. Beethoven for a Later Age takes the reader inside the life of a quartet, vividly showing how four people enjoy making music together over a long period of time. The key, the author argues, is in balancing continuity with change and experimentation - a theme that also lies at the heart of Beethoven's remarkable compositions.

The Ill Tempered String Quartet

The Ill Tempered String Quartet
Author: Lester Chafetz
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 181
Release: 2024-10-14
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1476607109

Witty and practical, this book is for amateur string instrument players who want to play quartets and other forms of chamber music. It covers everything. The long chapter discussing the "literature" is exceptionally valuable.

Arranging for Strings

Arranging for Strings
Author: Mimi Rabson
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
Total Pages: 126
Release: 2018-02-01
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1540025527

(Berklee Guide). Learn to use strings in your compositions and arrangements! From romantic chord pads to powerful grooves to gut-wrenching passionate melodies, strings do it all. This book presents time-tested techniques and contemporary developments in writing and arranging for strings. You'll learn strategies for authentic writing in many different styles and find ideas to take your personal sound forward. Discover voicings that work best for each project and explore the intricacies of bowing. Hear articulation approaches from pads to chopping in the online audio examples. See how other composers have used strings to heighten the impact of their music in the written examples. Make your work stand out with the drama and depth that well informed string writing can bring. You will learn: * The tunings, range, and timbres for the violin, viola, cello, and bass, including standard instruments and common variations, including acoustic, electric, and synthesized string instruments and sections * Bowing techniques and possibilities * Characteristic articulations and sounds, such as vibrato, pizzicato, sul tasto, trills, tremolos, and harmonics * Timbral and rhythm effects, such as chop technique, ponticello/feedback, portamento, and falls * String-section arranging techniques, such as melody/countermelody, fills, pads, and comping * Stylistic nuances of genres such as American roots, Celtic, jazz, rock, klezmer, eastern European, Gypsy jazz, and swing * Mic, recording, and live sound techniques for capturing the best string sounds for both acoustic and electric instruments

21st-century String Quartets

21st-century String Quartets
Author: Edith Eisler
Publisher: Human Kinetics 1
Total Pages: 136
Release: 2000
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781890490157

(String Letter Publishing). In this collection of in-depth interviews, today's leading performers get to the heart of one of the most beloved forms of classical music: the string quartet. Representing both young groups and longstanding favorites, they all have insights into the joys and hardships of expressing themselves as part of a tight-knit ensemble. How they practice, how they come to consensus, their performance secrets and anxieties, what moves and inspires them all this and more comes to life in this series of revealing interviews with player and charter Strings magazine contributor Edith Eisler.

A Quintessential Quartet: The Story of the Lindsay String Quartet

A Quintessential Quartet: The Story of the Lindsay String Quartet
Author: Bernard Gregor-Smith
Publisher: Mirador Publishing
Total Pages: 186
Release: 2019-07-02
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781913264079

Bernard takes the reader on an evocative and fascinating journey from his early life, detailing his ancestral influences on his chosen career of cellist, until the present day. A charming book full of pathos and humour, which tells the true story of the forming of the world famous Lindsay String Quartet, their adventures, during 40 years of world travel and their achievement of the highest accolades making them one of the most revered quarters of the 20th century. Bernard continues, in his third section, to talk of his introduction to the Alpujarras in the Sierra Mountains of Southern Spain, the area he has chosen to live with his wife Theresa. This book is both engaging and humorous whilst also giving a uniquely personal perspective into the life of one of the world's greatest quartet cellists. A must read for any fan of chamber music and in particular of the famed 'Lindsay String Quartet'.