String Quartet No. 5 (Piston)

The quartet is in three movements: Each movement is based on twelve-tone technique, though the character is cool and refined, as usual with Piston. The first movement is a binary sonata form with novel textures, tonal relations, and dynamic twists. The second movement is in variation form, with a theme presented initially as if it were a four-voice fugue, and subsequent formal ambiguities. The finale is a seven-part rondo (A–B–A–C–A–B–A), though the basic design is obscured by a number of formal devices, which led one analyst to believe it is a fugue with three subjects. ==Discography==

• 1974. American String Quartets, Volume II: 1900–1950. Kohon String Quartet. 3-LP set. Vox SVBX 5305 (set); VS 4627–4632. (Peter Mennin: String Quartet No. 2; Aaron Copland: Pieces for String Quartet; Walter Piston: String Quartet No. 5; George Gershwin: Lullaby; Virgil Thomson: String Quartet No. 2; Charles Ives: Scherzo for String Quartet; William Schuman: String Quartet No. 3; Roger Sessions: String Quartet No. 2; Howard Hanson: String Quartet, Op. 23.) New York: Vox, 1974. • 1982. Walter Piston: String Quartet No. 5; Quintet for Flute and String Quartet. Doriot Anthony Dwyer, flute; Portland String Quartet. LP recording, 12 in. Northeastern Records NR 208. Boston, Massachusetts: Northeastern Records. Reissued as part of Walter Piston: String Quartet No. 4; String Quartet No. 5; Quintet for Flute and Strings. Doriot Anthony Dwyer, flute; Portland String Quartet. Sounds of New England. CD recording. Northeastern NR 9002-CD. Boston, Massachusetts: Northeastern Records, 1988. • 2010. Walter Piston: String Quartets Nos. 1, 3 and 5. Harlem Quartet. CD Recording. Naxos 8.559630. [Hong Kong]: Naxos Records. ==References==