#ClassicsaDay #ClassicalQuartet Week 2

April is the fourth month of the year. And so the Classics a Day team decided to make classical quartets this month's theme. One could easily fill up a month of postings with nothing but great string quartets. But I decided to explore further.

A piano trio is made up of four musicians. So is a vocal quartet, a percussion quartet, a brass quartet, and so on. I decided to seek out some of the more unusual quartet compositions. And while I do include some string quartets, they're not written by the usual suspects. 

Here are my #Classicsaday selections for the second week of #ClassicalQuartet

04/06/20 Libby Larson (1950 - ): Four on the Floor

Larson says her 1983 work was inspired by boogie-woogie. The unusual quartet is comprised of violin, cello, double bass, and piano.

04/07/20 Jean Francaix (1812-1997): Woodwind Quartet

This 1933 work is for what has become fairly standard makeup of a woodwind quartet: flute, clarinet, oboe, and bassoon.

04/08/20 Louis Spohr (1784-1869): String Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 29, No. 1

Spohr wrote 36 string quartets. This work is No. 7, the first of three quartets in the Op. 29 set.

04/09/20 Charles Martin Loeffler (1861-1935): Music for Four Stringed Instruments

Loeffler's work is for a standard string quartet, though he chose not to call it that. It was written in Memorium to a casualty of World War I.

04/10/20 John Cage - Quartet

This 1935 work is for percussion quartet. Cage wrote it while studying with Arnold Schoenberg, though it shows none of his influence.