{"id":790,"date":"2013-05-02T19:34:30","date_gmt":"2013-05-02T19:34:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alzand.com\/?page_id=790"},"modified":"2026-02-03T09:57:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T14:57:32","slug":"quartet2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/alzand.com\/?page_id=790","title":{"rendered":"Karim Al-Zand: Music: String Quartet No.2 ‘Etudes’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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String Quartet No. 2 \u2019Etudes\u2019<\/i><\/h2>\n
for 2 violins, viola & cello<\/h5>\n

T<\/span>he piece has the subtitle \u2018Etudes\u2019<\/i> since each movement forms a study of a single string technique. The movements\u2019 descriptive titles have double meanings: they refer to both the technique being used and to an instrument which the ensemble as a whole evokes.<\/p>\n

Sourdine<\/i> is an 18th century Italian \u2018pocket\u2019 violin. The body of the instrument was smaller than the regular violin and it had a relatively soft sound the word sordo<\/i> literally means \u2018mute\u2019 in Italian. Sordino, as a musical indication, refers to a device which dampens the sound of an instrument, a mute. In the first movement the quartet uses mutes throughout, both the common orchestral type and a softer \u2018practice\u2019 variety.<\/p>\n

\"image\"Arpeggione<\/i><\/a> is the name of an early 19th century instrument (pictured left) which was a hybrid of guitar and cello: it had six strings and frets but was played with a bow. The instrument was short-lived, perhaps because it was quite difficult to play and had a relatively small dynamic range. The only well-known piece written for this instrument is a Sonata by Schubert\u2014the so-called \u2018Arpeggione\u2019 Sonata\u2014which is now usually performed on cello. One strength of the arpeggione, and the source of its name, was its facility with chord-like passages played in a \u2018broken\u2019 fashion, rapidly articulated. The second movement focuses on this string-crossing arpeggio technique.<\/p>\n

Armonica<\/i> was the name given by Benjamin Franklin to one of his musical inventions: a mechanized version of the glass harmonica. The glass harmonica is an instrumental form of the wine-glass trick. A thin, delicate pitch can be produced by rubbing the rims of graduated glass bowls in a circular motion. The third movement uses the distinctive sound of string harmonics to create a soft, glassy texture.<\/p>\n

Of the four instruments, Guitarra<\/i> is the only one still in common use. This last movement uses plucked strings (pizzicato) to evoke the sound of the guitar.<\/br><\/p>\n

SCORE + RECORDING VIDEO<\/p>\n