SKU: HL.4008004

How often has something been justified by, declared to be, or blessed as “in the name of” some cause or other? How can it be that opposing armies and the use of weapons are ever “in the name of”...? This is a common thread in the history of different faiths. Good was created but evil was committed and all “in the name of...” This thread is also found in the history of the Premonstratensian Abbey at Wadgassen. The abbey was built in the 12th century on unfertile, desolate moorland, which later evolved into the most powerful religious community in the Saarland. The history of the abbey records quite astounding achievements under the motto desertum florebit quasi lilium (“the desert will bloom like a lily”); but also the harsh treatment of delinquents. The order had its own school, in which children were taught the seven liberal arts (which included music as well as geography and astronomy), but the poor were left to starve outside the abbey walls and were only allowed to eat from the members' on feast days. The medieval witch trials demanded their pound of flesh, and one group that fell victim were ecstatic dancers who moved wildly to music--which was interpreted as the devil's work. The result: a show trial that sentenced the dancers to death by fire. All in the name of... The year is 1789: Abbot Bordier is in the tenth year of his command. He does not yet know that he is to be the last abbot of an almost 700-year-tradition. Not far from the abbey is the French border, which has long been making itself felt with the sound of gunfire, and the brothers continue to keep a nervous eye on it. The first portents of the French Revolution loom, but no one wants to believe it--that is, until the French pound the door down, storm the abbey and come right into the brothers' chambers. In a blind fury, all the pipes of the abbey organ are torn out, icons beheaded with swords and brothers beaten death while numerous buildings are set on fire. The abbey church is in flames. A frantic and desperate escape begins. Abbot Bordier and a handful of brothers make their getaway via the River Saar, adjacent to the abbey, to the neighbouring village of Bous. They survive, but their life--the Premonstratensian abbey--is destroyed. While they flee towards Prague and the sanctuary of the Strahov Monastery, the abbey at Wadgassen is razed to the ground and becomes a stone quarry. The desert blooms once more, however. A few short decades later, a glasswork arises from the foundations of the abbey. As peace returns to the region, it brings jobs and a new vision for its people.

SKU: HL.4007462

UPC: 196288050025.

Jan de Haan drew inspiration for this work from five paintings exhibited in The Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, one of the largest and most versatile museums in the world. He used the melodious Andante cantabile from the String Quartet Op. 11 by the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky as its starting point. Thus, he created his own musical painting, which is just as varied as the underlying canvases--from Cheerful Company by Dirck Hals to Dance II by Henri Matisse. A true work of art!

SKU: BT.DHP-1033505-010

9x12 inches.

Maxime Aulio composed Les Voyages de Gulliver (Gulliver’s Travels) for the concert band of the Conservatoire National de Région in Toulouse (France) conducted by Jean-Guy Olive. The first performance took place in Toulouse (Auditorium Saint-Pierre des Cuisines) on April 25, 2001. The Anglo-Irish author Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) took about six years to complete his epic tale of adventure. The creative storyline, clear writing and subtlety of Gulliver’s Travels have been engaging readers for generations. This literary travel between reason and foolishness was Maxime Aulio’s inspiration for this piece. Each of the four movements of this suite is a review of Gulliver’sadventures, resembling the effect of a kaleidoscope, which juxtaposes small fragments of colour in a linear pattern.

Jonathan Swifts satirischer Roman Gullivers Reisen - eine literarische Reise zwischen Vernunft und Verrücktheit - regte auch die Phantasie des Komponisten Maxime Aulio an. Seine Suite für Blasorchester besteht aus mehreren kurzen, teilweise wie eine Kette aneinander gereihten Sätzen. Zyklisch in veränderter Form wiederkehrende Motive und Themen beschreiben Gullivers Gedanken und Gefühle oder auch Landschaften und Personen, die ihm unterwegs begegnen.

1. Voyage Lilliput • 2. Voyage Brobdingnag • 3. Voyage Laputa/Voyage Balnibarbi; l’Académie de Lagado/Voyage Glubbdubdrib, l’île des Magiciens /Voyage Luggnagg; Les Struldbruggs • 4. Voyage chez les Houyhnhnms / Maxime Aulio a composé Gulliver's Travels (Les Voyages de Gulliver) pour l’Orchestre d’Harmonie du Conservatoire National de Région de Toulouse placé sous la direction de Jean-Guy Olive. L’œuvre a été donnée en création mondiale le 25 avril 2001, l’Auditorium Saint-Pierre des Cuisines de Toulouse, par la formation dédicataire.Vers 1720, lorsque Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), écrivain irlandais d’origine anglaise, envoie Lemuel Gulliver,un vieux chirurgien malicieux, la découverte de contrées extraordinaires, il débute en réalité l’écriture d’un roman satirique sur la vanité, la morale et l’hypocrisie de la société humaine. L’utopie littéraire était alors l'unique moyen d’éviter la censure. Mais en écrivant ce livre, dont la rédaction dura six ans, Swift eut le temps de m rir ses idées, si bien que sa réflexion grinçante sur la condition humaine est toujours d’actualité. Le génie imaginatif, la finesse d’esprit et la prose simple qui caractérisent Les Voyages de Gulliver ont fasciné des générations de lecteurs. Ce voyage littéraire entre raison et folie s’est également arrimé dans l’imaginaire de Maxime Aulio qui nous offre avec sa suite en quatre mouvements, une vision musicale des pérégrinations de Gulliver, la manière d’un kaléidoscope qui juxtapose de petits fragments de couleur dans une trame linéaire.