SKU: HL.49047454

UPC: 842819101086. 9.0x12.0x0.358 inches.

My 3rd String Quartet is in six contrasted movements. Certain musical figures recur across the work, but there are few themes as such. The main emphasis is on contrast of mood, texture, harmony, pacing and timing. Unlike many of my works this quartet had no extra-musical inspiration, and in principle should have no subtitle. Certain features already present in my music became more prominent in this new work: modes (limited collections of pitches) have always helped me to focus musical character, but here a sense of key note for each mode became much more pronounced, as did the difference between modes for each section of the work. A sort of hybrid key-system emerged (even with equivalents of major and minor) which is not normal tonality, nor does it aim to imitate it. Unlike tonality this key-system includes noises, extended performance techniques and intervals outside Western tuning as available resources. What I hope it does is to focus the listening experience onto different musical areas, to encourage a sense of both modulation from one area to another and to give the music a sense of goal. No conscious knowledge of this is needed when listening: the music should communicate directly on its own. Here, then, is this collection of six musical colours, related and unrelated, different yet belonging together, variable yet in a set order. Hence the subtitle, chosen both for both its sound and its sense: 'hana no hanataba' meaning, in Japanese, 'bouquet of flowers'. A brief description: 1) Moderately fast. Short droplets of sounds gather increasing momentum. 2) Very fast. Canons and bells at different speeds. 3) Very slow - fast - very slow - very fast - very slow. The main slow movement and its main scherzo. An emphasis on non-tempered tunings and on inhaling and exhaling waves of sound. The slow sections feature florid melodic writing. In the exuberant scherzo competing duos and trios create imaginary folk music. 4) Extremely fast/extremely slow. Open strings and harmonics fuse into a single string instrument - like a sort of large resonating Medieval tromba marina. 5) Very fast. A variation on movement 2). Variation, Schoenberg told Cage, is just a sort of repetition 'with some things changed and others not.' 6) Slow - Very Fast - Fast - Slow. The opening calm harmonies and florid melodies evoke movement 3) in different music. The fast part features one overt theme: a fanfare-like call to attention which is subject to extensive development. There is much use of non-Western tuning. At its climax the music freezes into a frieze - a wall of sound standing in front of the audience with increasing obstinacy and certainty as the work grinds towards its cadence.

SKU: HL.1189843

ISBN 9781705192412. UPC: 196288131489. 9.0x12.0x0.236 inches.

Sometimes you just need some soothing piano music to relax, unwind, and let go. This collection gathers nearly 40 beautiful classical favorites for the intermediate-level player. Works include: Air (from Water Music) (Händel) â?¢ Arietta, Op. 12, No. 1 (Grieg) â?¢ Bagatelle in G Major, Op. 126, No. 5 (Beethoven) â?¢ Canon in D (Pachelbel) â?¢ Clair De Lune (Debussy) â?¢ Gymnopedie No. 1 (Satie) â?¢ Lullaby (Cradle Song) (Brahms) â?¢ La Pastorale (Burgmüller) â?¢ Piano Sonata No. 8 â??Pathetiqueâ? (Beethoven) â?¢ Prelude in A Major, Op. 28, No. 4 (Chopin) â?¢ Prelude in C Major (Bach)â?¢ Reverie (Debussy) â?¢ Slumber Song (Gurlitt) â?¢ The Swan (Le Cygne) (Saint-Säens) â?¢ Waltz in A-Flat Major, Op. 39, No. 15 (Brahms) â?¢ and more.

SKU: BR.OB-15119-19

ISBN 9790004340325. 10 x 12.5 inches.

Just like Joseph Haydn's E flat major concerto Hob VIIe:1 (1796), Hummel's Trumpet Concerto in E major of 1803 was also written for the Viennese soloist Anton Weidinger, who performed on a keyed trumpet that could produce the chromatic tones of an entire scale a unique achievement at that time. The work features unmistakable allusions to Mozart and even has a literal quote from a Cherubini opera in the final movement. Today, Hummel's concerto, next to the Haydn piece, is considered as THE classical trumpet concerto. It is no doubt thanks to this unique status that the work has been available in a transposition to E flat major since 1957, a version that better suits the B flat trumpet widely used today. The Urtext edition respects this performance-practical aspect: The piano reduction as well as the study score contain both versions. The score and orchestral parts can be obtained in two different editions.While this being one of the few urtext, it may be the only edition published in both the original tonality of E major and the often-preferred key of E-flat major. Additionally, the edition contains some interesting insights on the concerto and keyed trumpet. (Luis C. Engelke, Music Reviews Editor).

SKU: CA.2709711

ISBN 9790007261740. Key: E flat major. Latin.

Carl Maria von Weber wrote his Missa sancta no. 1 in E flat major in just two months, despite his heavy workload as Kapellmeister at the Dresden court. The work acquired the nickname Freischutz Mass because the composer interrupted work on his opera of the same name in January and February 1818 to compose the mass. And so Weber presented himself to his new employer King Friedrich August I of Saxony as a versatile composer, for as well as his main task of developing a German opera alongside the existing Italian opera at court, his duties also included writing church music. In the Mass Weber responded to the local conditions in a particular way: he took into account liturgical practice at the Dresden court by adding an Offertorium to the sections of the mass ordinary, setting this as a bravura aria specially written for the Dresden star soprano Filippo Sassaroli. Because of the reverberant acoustics in the Hofkirche, he avoided rapid changes of harmony. Although the Mass was perceived as too operatic by critics, it was very well received by audiences and also pleased the King. * Practically oriented edition based on the sources, performance material available on sale for the first time * Easy to medium difficulty level * Text of the Mass includes an Offertorium in accordance with liturgical practice at the Dresden court at the time.