Piatti Quartet - Phibbs: Quartets - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Until recently we were unaware of the rich output of Irish composer Ina Boyle. She was the only woman composer to be published in the Carnegie Collection of British music with her atmospheric orchestral rhapsody, The Magic Harp from 1919. In 1934 she completed her String Quartet in E minor. In three movements, it has a distinctive, slightly Spartan, character. This is the world premiere commercial of this work. E.J. Moeran's E flat quartet was found among his papers after his premature death. It was thought that the work was an early composition, but it is now thought that the sectional second movement dates from the post war 1940's. This fascinating recital from the Piatti Quartet is completed with the Welsh Hymn Tunes arrangements by Vaughan Williams and John Ireland's, The Holy Boy, in his arrangement Album Tracks 1. Household Music I Crug-Y-Bar Fantasia 2. Household Music II St Denio Scherzo 3. Household Music III Aberystwyth Variations 4. String Quartet in E minor I Allegro Moderato 5. String Quartet in E minor II Adagio 6. String Quartet in E minor III Allegro Molto 7. The Holy Boy 8. String Quartet No 2 in E-Flat I Allegro Moderato Ma Ben Animato 9. String Quartet No 2 in E-Flat II Lento

The Piatti Quartet continue their exploration of Ina Boyle's music with this fascinating album on the theme of Phantasies, and the vision of one extraordinary patron of music. Walter Cobbett (1847 - 1937) was a successful businessman and chamber music patron, who, created a competition for British composers in 1905, and singlehandedly created the 'Phantasy' (his spelling), taking inspiration from the 16th and 17th century instrumental works for viol or string consorts. Ina Boyle, entered her composition in 1919, but misread the requirements of 'piano & strings'. Herbert Howells entered his composition in 1917, and Malcolm Arnold, whilst coming after the competitions ended, continued the form with his Phantasy composed when he was 19. Cobbett also commissioned Phantasies, including the Vaughan Williams work on this album from 1912. Augusta Holmès depicts the mythological figure of Hibernia in the 7th of her Vingt Melodies - a slow nationalist march depicting Christmases of Irish mythology. Tippett was awarded the Cobbett medal for services to chamber music in 1948, but when Stravinsky died in 1971, he was one of several major composers to commemorate the composer. Dating from 1972, In Memorium Magistri receives it's first recording on this album as do the two works by Boyle. Album Tracks 1. Phantasy Quintet-I. Prelude Lento Ma Non Troppo 5. Lament for Bion for Tenor Solo and String Quartet 7. Fantasy String Quartet Op. 25 (String Quartet No. 2)

Naresh Sohal, born in Punjab in 1939 but resident in the UK for most of his life, was the first person of Indian origin to make his mark as a composer of western classical music, writing works that displayed an unusual fusion of two cultures. The four quartets heard here - two of them being performed for the first time - document Sohal's stylistic journey the fireworks of Chiaroscuro II reflect the wild energy of European modernism, whereas the three later works are more considered in manner, incorporating occasional echoes of Indian music into their freewheeling counterpoint. Album Tracks 1. Chiaroscuro II (String Quartet No. 1) 2. String Quartet No. 3 3. String Quartet No. 4~I. Allegro - Adagio 4. String Quartet No. 4~II. Moderato 5. String Quartet No. 4~III. Allegro 6. String Quartet No. 5~I. Allegretto 7. String Quartet No. 5~II. Adagio 8. String Quartet No. 5~III. Allegro