SKU: PR.11641867S

UPC: 680160683208.

Contextures: Riots -Decade '60 was commissioned by Zubin Mehta and the Southern California Symphony Association after the successful premiere of the Concerto for Four Percussion Soloists and Orchestra. It was written during the spring and summer months of 1967. Riots stemming from resentment against the racial situation in the United States and the war in Vietnam were occurring throughout the country and inevitably invaded the composer's creative subconscious. Contextures, as the title implies, was intended to exploit various and varying textures. As the work progressed the correspondence between the fabric of music and the fabric of society became apparent and the allegory grew in significance. So I found myself translating social aspects into musical techniques. Social stratification became a polymetric situation where disparate groups function together. The conflict between the forces of expansion and the forces of containment is expressed through and opposition of tonal fluidity vs. rigidity. This is epitomized in the fourth movement, where the brass is divided into two groups - a muted group, encircled by the unmuted one, which does its utmost to keep the first group within a restricted pitch area. The playful jazzy bits (one between the first and second movements and one at the end of the piece) are simply saying that somehow in this age of turmoil and anxiety ways of having fun are found even though that fun may seem inappropriate. The piece is in five movements, with an interlude between the first and second movements. It is scored for a large orchestra, supplemented by six groups of percussion, including newly created roto-toms (small tunable drums) and some original devices, such as muted gongs and muted vibraphone. There is also an offstage jazz quartet: bass, drums, soprano saxophone and trumpet. The first movement begins with a solo by the first clarinetist which is interrupted by intermittent heckling from his colleagues leading to a configuration of large disparate elements. The interlude of solo violin and snare-drum follows without pause. The second movement, Prestissimo, is a display piece of virtuosity for the entire orchestra. The third movement marks a period of repose and reflection and calls for some expressive solos, particularly by the horn and alto saxophone. The fourth movement opens with a rather lengthy oboe solo, which is threatened by large blocks of sound from the orchestra, against an underlying current of agitated energy in the piano and percussion. This leads to a section in which large orchestral forces oppose one another, ultimately bringing the work to a climax, if not to a denouement. Various thematic elements are strewn all over the orchestra, resulting in the formation of a general haze of sound. A transition leads to the fifth movement without pause. The musical haze is pierced gently by the offstage jazz group as if they were attempting to ignore and even dispel the gloom, but a legato bell sound enters and hovers over both the jazz group and the orchestra, the latter making statements of disquieting finality. Two films were conceived to accompany portions of Contextures. The first done by Herbert Kosowar, was a chemography film (painting directly into the film using dyes and various implements) with fast clips of riot photographs. The second was a film collage made by photographically abstracting details from paintings of Reginald Pollack. The purpose was to invoke a non-specific response - as in music - but at the same time to define the subject matter of the piece. The films were constructed to correspond with certain developments in the piece and in no way affect the independence and musical flow of the piece, having been made after the piece was completed. Contextures: Riots - Decade '60 is dedicated to Mehta, the Southern California Symphony Association and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. The news of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King came the afternoon of the premiere, April 4, 1968. That evening's performances, and also the succeeding ones, were dedicated to him and a special dedication to Dr. King has been inserted into he score. All the music that follows the jazz group - beginning with the legato bell sound playing the first 2 notes to We shall overcome constitutes a new ending to commemorate Dr. King's death.

SKU: AP.43762

UPC: 038081496399. English.

Here is an energetic original composition that will remind us all of the joys of summer, even when in the grip of a hard winter. The Italian name, meaning summer dance, brings to mind Mediterranean beaches. Keep warm and enjoy! (2:30).

SKU: HL.14000916

ISBN 9788759859179. 12.0x16.5x0.538 inches. English.

Stratifications was composed by Hans Abrahamsen in 1973-75 and was premiered in the summer 1977 by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra at the Young Nordic Music Festival in Reykjavik. Programme note: The stratifications referred to in the title unfold two different levels. There is the stratification of the time dimension produced by the opposition of contrasting parts, at the same time the polyphony, the presence of several simultaneously sounding layers, is of great importance to the music. By garish colours and clear-cut outlines a polyrhythmic simultaneousness of simple melodies is produced with more gestic music and other material which give a peculiar set piece-like effect inthe sound picture. The new simplicity details are here woven together in a new kind of complex whole. Stratifications begins with a series of concretistic masklike pictures of the music. It is like seeing lantern slides. But this fictive form crackles and the music gets attentive and real. The music is in a night-mare condition, where it is not getting anywhere in spite of a great dynamic display. But finally is liberating itself and rising in triumph.

SKU: AP.44845S

UPC: 038081518671. English.

In 3/4, this moving piece provides a great opportunity for the use of slow bow strokes and cross-curricular study. The victory over the British forces at Yorktown, Virginia by the American Continental Army in 1781 signaled the end of the Revolutionary War. This original work by Todd Parrish remembers the heroic efforts of General Washington and the brave soldiers he commanded to forge a new nation founded on freedom. (2:30).

SKU: BR.PB-5584

ISBN 9790004213940. 10 x 12.5 inches.

Little is known about the actual composition process of Lemminkainen and the performance and publication history is rather complex, resulting in a first complete printing of all the four movements en suite through the complete edition of Jean Sibelius Works only in 2013.In summer 1894 Sibelius went to Central Europe, carrying among others a plan for an opera freely based on the Kalevala in his mind. But during this trip he reassessed his composing: I think I have found my old self again, musically speaking. I think I really am a tone painter and a poet. As a result he abandoned his opera plans, but musical material may have found its way into the Lemminkainen pieces which he started composing during that time. Lemminkainen became popular from the beginning and has attained a fixed position in the concert repertoire.Sibelius said about Lemminkainen in Tuonela: The cradle song at the end of the work is maternal love, which rakes the pieces of Lemminkainen together from the River Tuonela..

SKU: BR.SON-625

ISBN 9790004803271. 10 x 12.5 inches.

In 1998, at the end of the 20th century, Breitkopf & Hartel started the publication of the Complete Edition, which is made possible thanks to the cooperation of the various Sibelius publishers. The Editors (Helsinki University Library and The Sibelius Society of Finland) and the Editorial Committee (Chairman: Timo Virtanen, Helsinki) believe that the volumes of JSW will provide the basis for a now conception of the creative work of Jean Sibelius.Reviews: One immediately recognizes the towering production quality of these volumes - a point that can be extended to all volumes thus far published in the set. The music is a joy to read; and the lucidity and thoroughness of the texts ... are models of scholarly editions, and should be required reading for all bibliography and music-editing courses. ... In sum, the JSW is a remarkable project: the scholarship is impeccable, the music scores and texts are simply a joy to study. Edward Jurkowski, Notes December 2011: 442-443At the back of this magnificent book are pages of critical commentary on a bar-by-bar analysis of an endless supply of musical notation requiring interpretation by the editor. ... For the general, non-musically trained, purchaser of the edition there is the magisterial introduction to read, and fascinating reading it is. Edward W. Clark, Sibelius Society Newsletter 2009 The Sibelius pieces, however, are a revelation. I opened this magnificently produced volume - complete with multilingual critical report and generous facsimiles of original manuscripts - expecting Grieg-style quasi-nationalistic character pieces, and was instead presented with an incredible array of styles, textures, harmonic languages and levels of difficulty. Chris White, Piano Professional Summer 2009: 2This is not only a scholarly edition of one of the composer's major works, it is also a model for the philological editing of music in general. ... JSW has chosen to have the emendations reflected in two places, in certain cases even in three: as graphic indications in the music text, in prose form in the critical commentary, and sometimes also in the form of a warning footnote on the music page. There can be no doubt that such a procedure is very user-friendly, but it disturbs the appearance of the music and may mislead the user into thinking that there are two or more equally valid readings. Niels Krabbe, Fontes Artis Musicae 54/2, 2007: 248 Editorial standards are high throughout, and maintain a careful balance between the competing demands of practical exigency and the need to provide as much scholarly evidence of variants as possible. The critical commentaries provide concise and effective descriptions of the sources and, where appropriate, information on compositional genesis and historical context. The introduction to each volume provide useful background information on historical reception, including much new material not previously brought to light in Tawaststjerna's biography. Daniel M. Grimley, Nineteenth-Century Music Review 2/2, 2005: 244.

SKU: AP.45867S

UPC: 038081525594. English.

Everyone loves to sing around a campfire, and here's a collection of favorite Campfire Songs set in the range of a one-octave D Major scale with many parts doubled! This medley of easy, familiar tunes---including This Old Man, In a Cabin in a Wood, Bingo, Kumbaya, Wheels on the Bus, and This Little Light of Mine---gives everyone a chance to play a melody or two, and to join in with an upbeat accompaniment. An optional sing-along part invites audience participation and makes this arrangement by Andrew H. Dabczynski the perfect piece for a first-year concert, school assembly, or summer program. (2:40) This title is available in MakeMusic Cloud.

SKU: AP.45867

UPC: 038081525587. English.

Everyone loves to sing around a campfire, and here's a collection of favorite Campfire Songs set in the range of a one-octave D major scale with many parts doubled! This medley of easy, familiar tunes---including This Old Man, In a Cabin in a Wood, Bingo, Kumbaya, Wheels on the Bus, and This Little Light of Mine---gives everyone a chance to play a melody or two, and to join in with an upbeat accompaniment. An optional sing-along part invites audience participation and makes this arrangement by Andrew H. Dabczynski the perfect piece for a first-year concert, school assembly, or summer program. (2:40) This title is available in MakeMusic Cloud.