Murrill, Henschel String Quartets

[dmitterd]

On hope-to-be-recorded quartets, I'd love Herbert Murrill's effort to be recorded, but we may need to wait until he falls into the public domain in 2023. Also, I've prepared a new performing edition of George Henschel's String Quartet Op. 55. It's a great work that harks back to early Brahms channeling Schubert...not an unkind comparison tho!

cheers,
Daniel

[Alan Howe]

Thanks. We'd need to know more about Murrill as his dates fall well outside our remit.

[eschiss1]

plenty of quartets are recorded that aren't in the public domain - agreements just have to be reached with the copyright-holder. This often has to be true with works that are in the public domain when - e.g. - the edition or arrangement used is still in copyright, say, (etc etc)... (and then, again, "public domain" is not a global constant and shouldn't be referred to as such- even saying "PD in the US" / "PD in Canada" / "PD in European Union" is, as far as I know, while closer, an approximation.)

[dmitterd]

Of course! The point I was trying to make was that the need to obtain permission/pay a fee for recording a protected work is but another hurdle on the journey to making a recording.

[eschiss1]

Agreed. (The rental fees for the parts for Draeseke's first (A major) string quintet, for instance, are on the order of $150, I think; I doubt many ensembles are going to spend that kind of money on a work they haven't heard (there are only two recordings, on the same low-distribution label, though there is the free downloadable track of the Scherzo at Draeseke.org) (especially a work by a composer the prospective audience hasn't heard of, etc.)

Murrill's 1939 string quartet in A minor is described in some detail in a PDF ("Herbert Murrill centenary") downloadable in the footnotes to the Wikipedia article on the composer. The motion of the first movement is described by the author of same as "chugging along in a manner reminiscent of the first movement of Moeran's" symphony, which may put it out of combat for some people here right there, I guess.

[matesic]

Hearing a vague bell ringing in my head I checked my hard drive and discovered that I recorded the 3rd movement of the Murrill for self-amusement back in 2009. I think it's pretty gorgeous but much too "modern" for here! Although some of the advanced harmonies I hear may not actually be in the score

[eschiss1]

Has anyone heard Julius Benedict's string quartet, by the way?