NEW RELEASE

Limited Anniversary Edition LP featuring String Quartets No. 4 and 5
​ALL LP ORDERS WILL RECEIVE A BANDCAMP CODE TO REDEEM FOR IMMEDIATE STREAMING AND A 24-BIT AUDIO DOWNLOAD

Released in celebration of the Martinů String Quartets fiftieth anniversary (the ensemble was founded in 1976), this limited-edition LP pairs two works the quartet commissioned from American composer Elliott Miles McKinley: String Quartet No. 4 (2001) and String Quartet No. 5 (2005). The music heard here offers two sharply contrasting visions of the contemporary quartet writing.

Anchored in a four-movement classical design, String Quartet No. 4 unfolds with tightly woven melodies, luminous harmonies that shift between tonal clarity and chromatic color, and propulsive rhythmic energy.

String Quartet No. 5 moves in a different direction: twelve brief, interconnected movements form an arch-like formal span whose wild contrasts of speed, density, and mood are framed by a lyrical, introspective mood.

Together, these works reveal a composer fascinated by structure and narrative through sound, producing music that is rigorously crafted, emotionally direct, and deeply attuned to the expressive possibilities of the modern string quartet.

Featured Work: RING OF FIRE

A SHORT biography

Elliott Miles McKinleyPC: Badie Khalagian
Elliott Miles McKinley’s music has been performed in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Commissions include those from the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, the Czech Philharmonic Chamber Music Society, the SOLI Chamber Music Ensemble, the Martinů String Quartet, the Estrella Consort, Transient Canvas, and the Hinge Quartet. The Minnesota Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, and the Czech Radio Symphony have performed his orchestral music, and his works have been featured on international festivals including the the Mid-American Contemporary Music Festival at Bowling Green State University, Indiana State University's Contemporary Music Festival, the SPARK Festival of Electronic Music and Art, the North American Saxophone Alliance National Conference, and both College Music Society and Society for Composers Inc. festivals. He is a recipient of a number of awards, grants, and fellowships including those from BMI, ASCAP, SCI, Meet the Composer, the American Music Center, the American Composers Forum, the Bogliasco Foundation, the MacDowell Colony, the Rhode Island Council for the Arts, and Indiana University. McKinley is also a founding member of the electroacoustic improvisation ensemble, earWorm, where he plays a variety of keyboard and percussion instruments, and executes real-time sampling, looping, and effects processing for the ensemble. He is currently Professor of Music Composition, Theory, and Technology and Chair of the Performing Arts Department at Roger Williams University. Read the full biography HERE.