Richard Arnell – String Quartet No. 6, Opus 170

This is the composer's first acknowledged work and was written when he was only 17 years of age and a first year student at the Royal College of Music.  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. 2, Prelude and Fugue for String Sextet and Terzetto for Two Violins and Viola.

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.

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.