Stephen Hartke

THE FIFTH BOOK  (2016) for String Quartet Commissioned for the Brentano String Quartet by the Frankfurter Buergerstiftung im Holzhausenschloesschen sponsored by the Ernst Max von Grunelius-Stiftung Duration: 23 Minutes I.  Adagio assai II.  Allegro scherzando III.  Andante con moto IV.  Presto V.  Lento The Fifth Book of the title refers to what I consider to be my fifth book of madrigals, only two of which books are actually for voices, the others being for string instruments.  I suppose that this largely has to do with the inherent singing quality of the strings, but also, in the case of this work and my previous string quartet, Night Songs for a Desert Flower, with the fluid structural character of the madrigal as a genre that often responds in quite mercurial ways to the emotional unfolding of its text.  These five movements are thus abstract madrigals whose larger outlines, shifts in mood, and various internal reminiscences are intended to convey a private, unspoken drama.