SKU: BT.AMP-273-010

9x12 inches. English-German-French-Dutch.

The inspiration for this piece came from the address of the person who commissioned the work: Morse Street, Houston, Texas. It pays tribute to the immense skill of the engineers who succeeded in submerging a wire across the Atlantic to send messages in morse code from America to Europe. This technical ingenuity provided the perfect source of material for a transatlantic musical message. This work explores the vast expanse of the Atlantic and makes use of Irish melodies to celebrate the point where the cable enters into the Atlantic Ocean.

Die Idee zu diesem Stück entsprang aus der Adresse des Auftraggebers Morse Street, Houston, Texas, welche an die schier unglaubliche Leistung erinnert, eine Leitung für die Übertragung gemorster Nachrichten quer durch den Atlantik zu legen. Dieser technische Triumph bot sich als Thema für eine transatlantische musikalische Botschaft an. Die Musik vermittelt die endlose Weite des Atlantiks und es erklingen - dem Ausgangspunkt des Unterfangens zu Ehren - auch irische Themen.

Morse Street, Houston, Texas, l’indirizzo della societ che ha commissionato questo brano, evoca l’incredibile prodezza tecnica realizzata nel 1866: la posa del primo cavo telefonico sotto-marino attraverso l’Atlantico che permetter la trasmissione dei messaggi in codice Morse. Il brano inizia con una descrizione dell’impressionante distesa d’acqua dell’Atlantico. I temi dell’Allegro vivo ricordano i colori e i paesaggi irlandesi, punto di partenza di questa grande avventura tecnologica.

SKU: HL.14018313

ISBN 9780853605935.

SKU: PE.EP73479

ISBN 9790577019888. 297 x 210mm inches. English.

At First Light was commissioned by Eric Bruskin, a resident of Philadelphia, USA, in memory of his mother. Eric had a longstanding enthusiasm for my work, and I was touched to be the person he approached for a task which is both a privilege and a daunting responsibility. In a sense, no music can ever measure up to the weight of love or the hope of consolation vested in it under such circumstances - but in memory I carry the deaths of both my own parents, and I was able to draw upon that. Eric's fondness for my Cello Sonata (itself written in memoriam) led him to ask that I include a solo 'cello part in the new work - but his attachment also to my polyphonic sacred choral writing meant that he wanted a centrepiece which would be both a showcase of that approach and the celebration of a life well lived. Therefore, the seven movements of At First Light arrange themselves as a series of slow meditations surrounding an exuberant 9-minute motet in which the lamenting cello falls temporarily silent.

Eric's Jewish faith meant that approaching an agnostic humanist brought up within the Anglican tradition was hardly free of problems! Gradually, though, I was able to win his approval for a collated mosaic of texts. This embraces some liturgical Latin (necessary for the motet) as the shared preserve of broad western culture in general, but balances it with a secular approach to loss, celebration, remembrance and the many shades of our mourning those whom we see no longer. Eric was adamant that he did not want the title Requiem; but what has emerged is still a form of semi-secular Requiem in all but name, taking its title instead from a phrase in the poem by Thomas Blackburn set as the third movement. This seemed to suggest succinctly how the loss of one very close to us is an awakening into an unfamiliar world where everything is changed. Following the exuberant central movement, the texts by the Lebanese-born Kahlil Gibran and the US, Kentuckian poet Wendell Berry first address the departed loved one directly, then place us within an imaginary funeral cortege, where the perennial and universal in human experience become personal without subscribing explicitly to any particular faith (or lack of it). The final text of all is a translation of a Hebraic prayer, requested and provided by Eric Bruskin, which serves to mirror its Latin counterpart heard at the outset.

Throughout, the lamenting cello represents a commentary on the experience articulated in the text. It evokes and, in a sense, tries to embrace and sanctify the individual existential journeys of the bereft, as they in turn seek to make their own sense of what the short-lived Second World War poet Alun Lewis called 'the unbearable beauty of the dead' (movement 5).

In a modern world hostage to ever greater menace, displacement, bloodshed and anguish, I hope fervently that this music not only brings a measure of solace to the person who commissioned it, but also makes its own small contribution to bailing out the sinking ship of humanity.

SKU: HL.14021013

ISBN 9780711921320.

This work was commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to celebrate its 40th birthday, and was written for Isaac Stern. The first performance took place in June 1986 at St. Magnus' Cathedral, Kirkwall, as part of the tenth St. Magnus Festival. It was given by Isaac Stern and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Andre Previn. This book contains the solo violin part and a piano reduction of the orchestral score.

SKU: FJ.B1770S

English.

This powerful work pays tribute to the many battles fought between the Native Americans and Europeans (often referred to as The American Indian Wars). The music moves between Native American-influenced themes and western harmonies before moving into an amalgamation of the two. Incredible writing by a teenage composer!

About FJH Concert Band

Designed for high school groups and upper-level middle school groups. Independence is encouraged, but many lines are cross-cued. Usually includes an expanded percussion section. Grades 3 - 3.5