String Quartet No. 6 (Hill) Explained

String Quartet No. 6 in G major "The Kids", Stiles 1.2.3.3 SQ6,^[1] by Alfred Hill bears dedication: "for the young fry at the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music". It was most likely written for the student string quartet groups at the Conservatorium mentored by the composer.^[2] The manuscript is dated 3 September 1927.^[3] Its technical demands being limited, it is an accessible for amateurs composition. The quartet is set in earlier style, reminiscent of Haydn, Schubert, and other classical composers.^[4] With approximate duration of only 15–16 minutes, this is the shortest of all Hill's quartets.

Structure

The quartet is in four movements.^[5]

I. Allegro (G major)

II. Scherzo. Allegro (E-flat major)

III. Adagio ma non troppo (C minor)

IV. Finale. Allegretto (G major)

Editions

• Alfred Hill. String Quartet No.6 in G : The Kids Quartet. Narara: Stiles Music Publications, 2006 (pub. number S69-2006; ISMN 979-0-20029-72-6)

Recordings

• (rec. 1994) Australian String Quartet (Hennessy, Lea, Crellin, Laurs) — (1997) Marco Polo 8.223746.
• (rec. 2007) Dominion String Quartet (Gezentsvey, Pucher, Maurice, Chickering) – (2008) Naxos Records 8.572097.

External links

• Andrew D. McCredie. Booklet notes to Marco Polo 8.223746

Notes and References

1. Allan Stiles. A Catalogue of the Music of Alfred Hill
2. Alfred Hill's second wife, Mirrie Hill, in a 1971 interview mentions "the boys" coming round for quartet practice (Melissa Rogers. Revisiting Alfred Hill (1869–1960): Examining issues of reception and compositional approach, PhD thesis. Sydney: UNSW, 2018)
3. https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/162945806 Library catalogue entry for the manuscript score and parts
4. Donald Maurice. Booklet notes to Naxos 8.572097
5. http://www.stilesmusicpublications.com/Alfred%20Hill/Hill%20editions/S69%20SQ6.htm Stiles Music Publications