String Quartets for All Seasons: Winter

“I was recently taken on a pleasant journey through the four seasons with the String Quartets For All Seasons compiled and arranged by Deborah Greenblatt. Like the name entails, String Quartets For All Seasons focuses on a central theme of the four seasons Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and the music that is representative for that particular season. Each season has its own score and as a player you are taken on an emotional journey to different times and genres from the Renaissance period through to Ragtime. The arrangements of the String Quartets For All Seasons are clean and fun to play. The counterparts amongst the strings are well arranged. The bowings may not be original (i.e., Vivaldi’s Four Seasons arrangements); they are, though, quite logical to follow and have been writen in all four parts. With the diverse musical genres contained within each score, String Quartets For All Seasons is ideal for intermediate to advanced student ensembles, amateurs, and of course professionals. They are wonderful sources for teaching, personal pleasure, gigs, as well as concert repertoire.”

“Scores and parts come in Greenblatt’s familiar flat spiral binding. Winter, appropriately bound in white starts with Glazunov’s Winter (from his Seasons, 1900); in the stratosphere for the violins, putting it well beyond reach of the usual busking group. Similarly, Hensel’s February is a whirlwind of pyrotechnics for all four players while the remaining wintery tunes are well within reach; Vivaldi’s Winter aptly brings up the rearguard. You will find pieces to everyone’s taste here. Be assured you will never run short of tunes to play, whatever the season or occasion.”