SKU: UT.CH-157

ISBN 9790215320369. 9 x 12 inches.

Vals d'la Masca; Il racconto della Montagna; Sequenze sotterranee

The Alpinia Suite was commissioned and composed for the festival <> and is dedicated to my friend and colleague Elio Galvagno. It was performed for the first time on August 30, 2011, in the Church of San Giovanni in Saluzzo, by an ensemble of professional and student guitarists from all over Europe. This piece was written to commemorate the first ascent of mount Monviso, by William Mathews, Frederick Jacomb, Jean Baptiste Croz and Michel Croz, exactly 150 years before, on August 30, 1861.
The first movement is a small Waltz. I imagined a Masca (a sort of alpine pixie, a teasing sprite), dancing all around the house and playing tricks, mostly harmless and funny. The Masca is a legendary and very important character in the folklore of my valleys, and all rationally inexplicable events of everyday life are ascribed to her - such as objects that cannot be found anymore, holes in flour sacks, salt in sugar bowls...
The next two movements are a homage to the Mountains. The Tale is a sort of journal, a bright and peaceful chronicle of a hike uphill, in which the beauty of the place is highlighted by an easy harmony and a sweet melody. After this, Underground sequences evokes that same world in a darker and nocturnal way; the faster pace and the choice of repeated and varying patterns are meant to show the transformation of the former environment into something more complex and tormented. Here mountains are a metaphor of human life, warts and all: their sundrenched slopes and their green pasture grasslands, but also their icy and dangerous northern sides, which demand calm, training and caution.
(G. Signorile).

SKU: CA.4077305

ISBN 9790007109332. Language: Latin.

2nd version: Arrangement for Soli SS and upper strings 2 Vl, Va, Vc, Cb) Among his compositions, Franz Lachner, the long-serving Music Director of the Court of Munich and Director of the Royal Choir, left behind a considerable number of sacred works, including two settings of the Stabat Mater. The first Stabat Mater, op. 154, from 1856 was limited to a purely vocal ensemble (CV 70.037); the second, op. 168, from 1870 included strings and organ, in which the darker timbre was achieved through the absence of the violins. In its harmonic expression the second composition is especially oriented towards the, at that time, modern style of the North German School centred around Liszt and Wagner, but without ever exceeding a moderate degree of technical difficulty in the voice parts. Score available separately - see item CA.4077300.

SKU: CA.4077312

ISBN 9790007221003. Language: Latin.

2nd version: Arrangement for Soli SS and upper strings 2 Vl, Va, Vc, Cb) Among his compositions, Franz Lachner, the long-serving Music Director of the Court of Munich and Director of the Royal Choir, left behind a considerable number of sacred works, including two settings of the Stabat Mater. The first Stabat Mater, op. 154, from 1856 was limited to a purely vocal ensemble (CV 70.037); the second, op. 168, from 1870 included strings and organ, in which the darker timbre was achieved through the absence of the violins. In its harmonic expression the second composition is especially oriented towards the, at that time, modern style of the North German School centred around Liszt and Wagner, but without ever exceeding a moderate degree of technical difficulty in the voice parts. Score and part available separately - see item CA.4077300.

SKU: PR.114410790

ISBN 9781491112687. UPC: 680160015580. 9 x 12 inches.

THREE MYSTERIES OF NAGASAKI was inspired by the eerie darkness and ambiguous bells of the oldest Western church in Japan. Dorff’s program note describes impressions of his visit to Nagasaki while withholding any explanation of the three movements. The 13-minute work is a duo for violin and one percussionist, with an array of pitched and unpitched ringing metallic instruments plus bass drum.
THREE MYSTERIES OF NAGASAKI was inspired by the ambiguous bells of the oldest Western church in Japan.In an island nation that used to thrive on isolation from the rest of the world, Nagasaki has long been a vulnerable exception. From the 16th through 19th centuries, it was Japan’s only international port, open to Portuguese and Dutch traders. From this sole crossroads, Christianity (along with European food, flowers, and language) began flowing into the otherwise insular culture. The US Navy’s presence in the 1800s added to Nagasaki being Japan’s exposed Achilles’ heel, which may be why Puccini’s Madama Butterfly is set in this city, with Cho-Cho-San’s vulnerability symbolizing the risk of openness to Western influence.I’ve had occasion to visit Nagasaki, and have never felt so haunted. Aside from the unspeakable atrocity of 1945 and the lasting presence of that horror, there also remains a mysterious air of not really being in pure Japan, or in the present day. Nowhere was this more obvious than within the Ōura Basilica, the earliest Christian church built in Japan. Decades after visiting the basilica, I still recall its oddly distorted and slowly pealing bells, and timeless incense floating in relative darkness. The mysterious bells have stayed with me both for their own sonority, and as a subconscious reminder of everything Nagasaki is and was.Composed for a violinist-percussionist couple who ended a decades-long relationship just as I completed the work (and never performing it), it was originally called simply THREE MYSTERIES; I couldn’t make a direct reference in the title because it felt too raw. Looking back years later, the updated title THREE MYSTERIES OF NAGASAKI seems to ask more questions than it answers.