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Week 6: Michael Roberts

Quetzal Quartet by Michael Roberts

Anybody familiar with JS Bach's work will immediately recognise the opening to Quetzal Quartet, albeit not in the original majestic style of the great 5th movement of the Brandenburg Concerto, but in a much more quirky manner. This sets the tone for the rest of the piece. Although I do not make any more direct references to Bach I think his influence can be identified throughout the piece. Simultaneously there is a major departure from the traditional baroque style. This modernisation is no more apparent than at bars 45-51 where the piece becomes distinctly blues-y. The instrumentation is not your standard string quartet, but I thought given the nature of the piece, why stick to conventional norms?

Downloads
Michael's Promcast
Quetzal_Quartet.mp3 (mp3 file, 4.7MB)
Full Score
quetzal_quartet.pdf (pdf file, 180KB)
Full Score in Sibelius format
Quetzal_Quartet.sib (sib file, 29.4KB)

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