Richard Peirson – Allegro Risotto (String Quartet)

A contemporary work in one movement that was begun in 1939 when the composer was in his fourth and last year at the Royal College of Music. It was completed in New York, receiving its first performance on the 21st April 1940 by the Galimir Quartet in a series of concerts promoted by the New York Public Library.

A musical representation of the city or area of the titles as experienced by the composer. The music is drawn from pop, rock, jazz and jazz funk.

This quartet was written in 1954 when the composer, Carlo Martelli, was a 19 year old student at the Royal College of Music. This publication is of a recent revision of the work. There are three distinct sets of ideas in the first movement which are freely developed, although vestiges of sonata form can be discerned. The second movement is a scherzo and trio, which is joined without a break to the slow third movement - an interesting feature of this conjunction, is that at the close of the slow movement ideas from the trio and then the scherzo return to round things off. The last movement is a succession of free variations on a theme in which the interval of a fourth predominates. For conservatories and professionals.

The Pavão Quartet recorded this work in August 2012 on the CD Carlo Martelli, released in October 2013 by Discadia Records, DISCA 002. Included on the same CD, and also published by Broadbent & Dunn, are Martelli’s String Quartet No. 1, Prelude and Fugue for String Sextet Terzetto for Two Violins and Viola.