Richard Peirson – Allegro Risotto (String Quartet) – Parts Digital Download

This sixth string quartet is in six sections, played almost without a break. Begun in 1987 the work was subsequently abandoned, then restarted in 1990 and completed in May 1992. Premiered at the Cheltenham Music Festival. For professionals and advanced students.

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.

Three Snippets for String Quartet is a short entertaining work and concert stocking-filler - lasting only 6½ minutes. Originally written for saxophone quartet, the three movements are: Flourish, a march-like fanfare with a suggestion of toy soldiers, a deeply-felt Love Song as an unexpectedly emotional core, and Dislocated Rag to finish with a smile - ragtime with recurring 7/8 bars thrown in to trip up the dancers! Dislocated Rag is based on the composer's music for the 1984 mystery film The Case of Marcel Duchamp about the famous French Dadaist artist.

Tonal, well crafted and lasting the test of time, this second string quartet was written in New York. The work received its first broadcast by the David Martin String Quartet on BBC Radio 3 in September 1947, and received its first performance in July 1952 at the Cheltenham Festival with the New London String Quartet. For professionals and advanced students.