Richard Arnell – String Quartet No. 3, Opus 41

This piece by Dominic Sewell was written for the Junior Course at Pro Corda Summer School (the National String Chamber Music Academy) where it received its first performance. It is an excellent introduction to tonal contemporary music for younger students aged 12 to 18. The piece is good for teaching purposes as it is short but also provides some technical and ensemble difficulties.

This piece is all about the fun side of country music. Don't Ask is the simple answer to the question asking what happens next. Freedom is a spiritual from the rural state of Tennessee, starting with a lone plaintive cry that becomes a statement of optimism as more people join in. In Pam! Bam! Zonk! the drinking gets a little too much for some, so this movement is a glorious fight.

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.

Tonal, well crafted and lasting the test of time, this fifth string quartet was written in London and premiered by the New London Quartet at the Cheltenham Town Hall on the 26th April 1962. It received its first London performance in May 1983 at the Purcell Room. For professionals and advanced students.