Richard Arnell – String Quartet No. 3, Opus 41

A fun light hearted vivacious piece in samba rhythm for string quartet by Ronald Reed that is both enjoyable to play and to listen to.

A solid, serious work for aspiring string quartets or established groups, this piece was the subject of a master class from the Wihan Quartet from the Czech Republic. The quartet, inspired by Janáček's Intimate Letters quartet, was similarly inspired by letters from a woman to her lover. It is scored in three contrasting movements consisting of a gestural first movement, a slow arch form second movement and a fiery syncopated 5/4 finale.

Written above all to be enjoyed by the players, audiences have shown that they too share that same delight. Both of Mason's string quartets are in four movements which exploit the instruments on equal terms, and both are in a musical language that enables the strings to sing as they should. These two quartets will happily share any programme with music from Haydn to Debussy and beyond.

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.