• Elizabeth Maconchy
  • String Quartet No 13 'Quartetto Corto' (1984)
    (String Quartet no.13)

  • Chester Music Ltd (World)

Commissioned by the City of Portsmouth International String Quartet Competition

  • 2vn.va.vc
  • 8 min

Programme Note

Quartetto Corto was composed as a test piece for the 1985 Portsmouth String Quartet competition. It is a ‘little quartet’ in length (just eight minutes) but not in scope: the musical language has the energy and intensity which characterise all of the Elizabeth Maconchy’s Quartets, from No 1 (1931) to No 12 (1981).

The concise structure of the QUARTETTO is not hard to follow: an opening allegro moderato and a closing allegro resoluto flank a central lento. This slow section is the heart of the work, with expressve solo lines creating a rich web of harmonies. Thus the QUARTETTO is three movements in one, following a traditional quick, slow, quick form; it is also a single span, unified by the way in which the various contrasting ideas can be heard as transformations of one another.

Elizabeth Maconchy

Scores

Sample Pages

Discography

Complete String Quartets Vol.3

Complete String Quartets Vol.3
  • Label
    Unicorn-Kanchana
  • Catalogue Number
    DKPC9082
  • Ensemble
    Mistry Quartet
  • Released
    1990