Orchestra

SKU: BT.YKM570369270

Composed by Robert Saxton. Score Only. Composed 2021. 70 pages. University of York Music Press #YKM570369270. Published by University of York Music Press (BT.YKM570369270).

A Hymn to the Thames was commissioned by James Turnbull and the Music Director of the St Paul’s Sinfonia, Andrew Morley. It was begun in 2019 and completed early in 2020. There are four movements played without a break, which follow the Thames from its Cotswold source to the North Sea. As the first performance took place in St ALfege’s Church, Greenwich, this seemed appropriate. The solo oboe represents both a wanderer along the river path and the spirit of the river. The pitch centres of the movements spell out the musical letters of the river (tHAmES—B natural, A, E and E flat) so that the river’s name is projected across the whole work. In addition, the musical letters found in James Turnbull, Andrew Morley and my wife, Teresa Cahill ( who was born in Maidenhead and brought up by the river in Rotherhithe) are entwined in various guises. The first movement grows from the depths, the soloist entering with fanfare-like gestures, followed by lyrical music and breaks into a dance as the river gathers momentum. The third movement is slow and sustained and geographically the Thames flows through Oxford. The music is based on the well-known In Nomine ‘head motif’ from the Gloria tibi Trinitas Mass by the early Tudor composer, John Taverner, who was the first Director of Music at Christ Church, Oxford. The orchestra provides a screen or veil above which the solo oboe dreams and ruminates. This leads directly into the fourth and final movement which begins in the depths once more, interrupting the oboe’s held note from the end of the third movement. The waters’ increasing intensity and power are represented throughout by a moto perpetuo of quick, steady semiquavers. Near the close, the woodwind play O Nata Lux by Thomas Tallis, the great Tudor composer who, with his wife Joan, is buried in St Alfege’s. Beneath this, the lower strings continue the fast semiquaver movement of the river and, above, the violins are heard as a halo of harmonics. At the close, the oboe rises, opening out to the future, and celebrating its voyage, while the orchestra fades as the river meets the sea. A Hymn to the Thames lasts approximately 17 minutes.

(SAXOPHONE & PIANO)

SKU: HL.48183662

Composed by Georg Philipp Telemann. Leduc. Baroque. Softcover. 4 pages. Alphonse Leduc #AL25864. Published by Alphonse Leduc (HL.48183662).

UPC: 888680870430. 9.0x12.0x0.055 inches.

“Sonata is a piece for Bb Soprano Saxophone and Piano composed by G. P. Telemann (1681-1767) and reviewed by Jean-Marie Londeix. Highly melodious, this piece, subtitled ?Sicilianna?, is quite challenging (upper intermediate/advanced level) and lasts 7 and a half minutes. The four parts of this piece are: 1. Andante (12/8 ? tempo 50), 2. Spiritoso (3/4 ? tempo 100), 3. Andante (4/4 ? tempo 72) and Vivace (2/4 ? tempo 120). Jean-Marie Londeix is a musician who studied the Saxophone and the Piano. He also had some strong knowledge of chamber music, harmonies and of music history and obtained a First Prize and a Prize of Honour at the Paris Conservatoire.”.