Four-Stringed Voice scores are now available in a beautiful printed booklet.  The booklet can be purchased by itself or in a bundle with the CD.  

This all-original music by violinist Gloria Justen is firmly rooted in the solo violin tradition of Bach, Ysaÿe, Fritz Kreisler and Bartok.  It is also inspired by bird song, insect flight, city nights, and folk dances.

The violin can "sing" like a human voice. These pieces celebrate the singing qualities of the instrument, as well as exploring many other colorful sonorities ranging from whispery flutelike sounds to crunchy aggressive attacks.  Two of the pieces explore scordatura, or unconventional tuning, giving the violin unusual range and resonance.

The booklet includes all eight of the pieces in the collection (all 16 album tracks, about 55 minutes of music), with fingerings, bowings and performance notes.  It is archivally printed on substantial 80 lb text paper (FSC Certified), and the composer's design includes hinged foldout pages so that there are no page turns for the solo performer.  Gloria personally prints the inside pages of each booklet in her home studio, and she assembles the booklets using archival German document tape for the foldouts.  The cover, with art also created by Gloria, was printed by Greenerprinter using soy inks on recycled coated stock.

Booklet is 9" x 12" with 38 inside pages (14 of which are on 7 tape-hinged foldout sheets), plus a 6 page/3-panel insert of alternate "Fingering Versions" for the two pieces with alternate tunings.

Each booklet and CD will be signed by the composer.

What is the level of difficulty?  This collection is suitable for an advanced player, as it includes many double stops (and triple- and quadruple-stops) and other challenging left and right hand techniques.  These are all player-tested and violinistic, and I include my fingerings as a guide.  Some of the pieces are easier than others.  If you can play Ysaÿe's Six Sonatas for Solo Violin you can play the most difficult of these.  Some of the pieces are similar in difficulty to a Bach solo sonata or Kreisler piece.

ISMN: 979-0-58032-000-1