String Quartet No. 4 (Nielsen) String Quartet No. 4 (Nielsen) Carl Nielsen's String Quartet No. 4 in F major or Quartet for Two Violins, Viola and Cello in F major, Opus 44, was composed between February and July 1906. The last of Nielsen's four string quartets in the official series, its first public performance took place on 30 November 1907 in Copenhagen. The Fourth String Quartet was composed between two of Nielsen's major dramatic works, the comic opera "Maskarade" and his music for Holger Drachmann's melodrama "Hr. Oluf, han rider -". The first two movements were written in February and March and the last two
New World String Quartet members were: Curtis Macomber and Vahn Armstrong, violins; Robert Dan, viola; and Ross Harbaugh, cello. Members on recordings in the late 1980s and early 1990s included Curtis Macomber and Vahn Armstrong, violins; Benjamin Simon, viola; and Ross Harbaugh, cello. The quartet also recorded a Brahms piano quintet with Derek Han, piano. The quartet won the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation Chamber Music award in 1979. In 1980 the New World String Quartet became the first quartet-in-residence at Harvard University. The quartet was awarded a Grand Prix du Disque in 1991 for their recording of the string quartets of Debussy, Ravel, and